Small Wars Journal

Dilemmas of Stabilization Assistance: The Case of Syria

Mon, 10/29/2018 - 11:46am

Dilemmas of Stabilization Assistance: The Case of Syria by Frances Z. Brown - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

… This paper asks two primary questions: How did these local programs integrate into the United States’ higher-level strategy for Syria over the years? And how did these programs relate to the broader political and security trajectories of the war?

The central argument of this paper is that, as the years passed, the objectives and assumptions of local political assistance in Syria diverged further and further from U.S. high-level policy decisions. Further, as the conflict wore on, local stabilization programs became increasingly obviated by the political-military realities of the war…

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