At the end of his book, Yasser Munif asks pwertinent questions that are still relevant today after the collapse of the Assad regime. “In a way, the Syrian uprising announced the demise of Assadist eternity, despite the shortcomings of the revolution. International Relations, as a field of study, exists to maintain hegemonic relations of power. It is utilized to preserve the interests of the state and prevent non-state actors from disrupting the status quo. In the end, mainstream frameworks can become lethal in myriad ways, as the past eight years have amply shown us. The Syrian people were/ are organizing against dictatorship but also struggling against an oppressive world order. How do people develop a critic of the state while, at the same time they recognize the real power of global institutions, laws, and economies in which their practices are rooted? How do people develop grassroots strategies while at the same time operate within a world order that works against their aspira...
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51