International Workshop
Syrian Civil War:Comparative Perspectives with Lebanese and Yugoslavian Civil Wars
Date: Saturday, February 2, 2019
Venue: The Library Hall, Izumi Campus, Meiji University
1-9-1 Eifuku, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-8555, JAPANhttp://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/about/campus/iz_campus.html
http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/about/campus/index.html
Program:
13:00

Opening the doors

13:30-13:50

Hidemitsu Kuroki (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)“Preamble: Syrian civil war in comparative perspectives”

13:50-14:30

Dima de Clerck (Saint Joseph University, Beirut)“The war on civilians: Living and surviving on a daily basis
during a ‘civil’ war”

14:30-15:10

Danilo Mandić (Harvard University)“War, camps, and Syrian refugees: Precedents and politics”

15:10-15:30

Coffee Break

15:30-16:10

Karim Makdisi (American University of Beirut)“Reflecting international order: United Nations interventions
during the Lebanese and Syrian civil wars”

16:10-16:50

Andrey Edemskiy (Institute for Slavic Studies, Russian Academy ofSciences, Moscow)“Russia’s foreign policy from passive embedding into the unipolarworld to active actions in a multipolar international community:
The example of post-Yugoslav space and Syria (1991 ‒ the present)”

16:50-17:10

Coffee Break

17:10-18:00

Comments by Tetsuya Sahara (Meiji University) followed bygeneral discussion

Chair: Kenichiro Takao (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
Language: English
Participation Fee: Free
Contact: Hidemitsu Kuroki, e-mail: kuroki@aa.tufs.ac.jp

Sponsored by
1. The Project “Syrian Civil War in Comparison with Lebanese and Yugoslavian Civil
Wars” (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
coordinated by Hidemitsu Kuroki
2. The Graduate School of Humanities, Meiji University
3. The Project “Russia as a Military Power in the Middle East and the Black Sea Rim”
(Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
coordinated by Kimitaka Matsuzato
4. The Core Project “Political, Social and Cultural Polarization and its Backgrounds inthe Middle East and the Muslim World,” ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Resumé of the Workshop
Leaving half of the total population in the predicament of refugees and displacement insideand outside of the country, the Syrian civil war is still going on. During the past seven years,
the war has transformed drastically. Starting as a confrontation between nonviolent popular
protesters and the authoritarian government, it emerged into urban warfare between rebels
and governmental forces, and then into a sort of proxy war, resulting in a de facto military
partitioning by various powers, for one, the Assad regime. Foreign interventions have beenunrestrained, and tens of thousands of militia gathered from around the world. Although theregime’s power survived and succeeded in controlling a vast number of the remaining
population, full-scale reconstruction and national reconciliation are still far out of the realmof possibility.
How can we interpret this highly multi-faceted and metamorphosing war that involves
and raises various questions on ethnicity, sectarianism, Islamic radicalism, population
movement, the urban-rural divide, environmental disaster, and other issues?
The significant complexity of this war’s features may be attributed to the area’s multiplex
structure and its centuries-long history of overcrowding interactions among various local andinternational powers. A multi-layered model representing its kaleidoscopic dynamism would
be effective in understanding this chaotic situation, which has emerged during years ofconflict. However, such a model might not be adequate to foresee Syria’s post-war stages. We
need empirical studies of civil wars from comparative perspectives.
Despite certain differences from the Syrian civil war, the cases of Lebanon (1975‒1990)
and Yugoslavia (1991‒2000) deserve consideration in exploring Syria’s future, especially its
post-war processes in political, economic, and social spheres. The three countries havecommon historical experiences of Ottoman rule and backgrounds of ethnic and religious
diversity. During their wars, cantonization and ethnic genocidal killings took place. Foreign
powers could not achieve diplomatic settlement and intervened militarily. Large-scale forced
migration and displacement occurred.
In addition, the three wars are interrelated: Syria intervened in Lebanon’s civil war; theend of the Cold War caused the end of civil war in Lebanon and started Yugoslavia’s; asignificant number of Jihadists from Lebanon and Yugoslavia participated in Syrian warfare.
At this workshop, specialists on Lebanese and Yugoslavian civil wars will present theirinsights and exchange their views on Syria’s current civil war based on the points mentioned
above.
Hidemitsu Kuroki