Contested Statehood

Abstract

This chapter outlines how the history of health care in Syria has shaped the way in which wartime health care has been delivered and controlled. The chapter analyzes the claim by humanitarian organizations to a form of neutrality in the Syrian war, which was ultimately incompatible with the way the Syrian state and the opposition saw aid delivery as part of the battle for statehood. It also mentions how service providers to areas controlled by the opposition were seen by the Syrian government as complicit in directly challenging the legitimacy of the state. The chapter looks at opposition groups that co-opted humanitarian assistance to enforce their own legitimacy to the population.