The role of drought and climate change in the Syrian uprising: Untangling the triggers of the revolution
Abstract
This article examines the role of drought and climate change as triggers of the Syrian uprising that started in March 2011. It frames the 2006–10 drought that struck north-eastern Syria in the context of rapid economic liberalization and long-standing resource mismanagement, and shows that the humanitarian crisis of the late 2000s largely predated the drought period. It argues that focusing on external factors like drought and climate change in the context of the Syrian uprising is counterproductive as it diverts attention from more fundamental political and economic motives behind the protests and shifts responsibility away from the Syrian government.
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During the harsh drought years of 2006 to 2009 in the agriculture-based northeast, the Syrian regime provided emergency help first and foremost to selected, well-connected farmers who had already profited from state land and subsidized fertilizers.
“De Cha ˆtel (2014) shows that during the harsh drought years of 2006 to 2009 in the agriculture-based northeast, the regime provided emergency help first and foremost to those selected, well-connected farmers who had already profited from the distribution of state land and subsidized fertilizers (see also Balanche, 2011).”
From The Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war (2015) · cites this paper as De Châtel, 2014
Cites
Syria: From authoritarian upgrading to revolution
HINNEBUSCH, R. (2012) · International Affairs · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01059.x · Cited by 283 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Hinnebusch gives a clear explanation of why Bashar al-Assad’s attempt to open the Syrian economy to the world market through a progressive transition from a centrally planned economy to a ‘social market economy’ failed and, ultimately, led to the 2011 uprising.(31) In the agricultural sector, deregulation measures sin…”
BackgroundManaging the Waters of Baՙth Country: The Politics of Water Scarcity in Syria
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Drivers of Unsustainable Land Use in the Semi‐Arid Khabur River Basin, Syria
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Global and local economic impacts of climate change in Syria and options for adaptationPreprint
Breisinger, C., Zhu, T., Riffai, P. A., et al. (2011) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Cited by 24 · see citing works
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Kelley, C. P., Mohtadi, S., Cane, M. A., Seager, R., & Kushnir, Y. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1421533112 · Cited by 1,379 · see citing works
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Drought exposure decreases altruism with salient group identities as key moderator
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- Authors
- De Châtel, F.
- Venue
- Middle Eastern Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2014-01-27
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 521-535
- ISSN
- 0026-3206 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-7881
- OpenAlex
- W2112961671
- Cited by
- 318
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 62 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 76.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Middle Eastern Studies (publishedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Middle East Politics and Society
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Transboundary Water Resource Management
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts
- Keywords
- Syrian uprising, Arab Spring, drought, climate change, resource mismanagement, economic liberalization, humanitarian crisis, political violence
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