Free Thing of the Week: Rebuilding Syria

After more than eight years of civil war, internecine conflicts, and foreign invasions, it might seem pure optimism to think there will be a time when Syria is finally at peace. But here at The Star we are always optimists. Peace will come. The question is: What peace? And then what?

The Italian Institute for International Political Studies have put their minds to this problem and produced this book-length report, Rebuilding Syria: The Middle East’s Next Power Game? The six essays in the book aim to explore serious questions: answer a few crucial questions:

• How can a country whose society has gone through such trauma and destruction reimagine itself and its future?
• What conditions would allow those Syrians who were forced to leave their homes to return?
• What are the regional and international dynamics and interests that will shape Syria’s future?

Particularly topical and illuminating to us are Valeria Talbot’s essay “Turkey in Syria: Roles, Interests and Challenges” and Bachar El-Halabi’s “Syria’s Reconstruction: Risks and Benefits for Lebanon and Jordan. Ms. Talbot’s piece explores the worst-case scenario of a Syrian partition and offers some insights on avoiding the worst. Mr. El-Halabi’s piece resonates even more these past weeks, over which Lebanon itself has found itself in the middle of a popular uprising.

Download PDF of Rebuilding Syria: The Middle East’s Next Power Game? from here.