Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0003
A. Abbara, Manar Marzouk, Hala Mkhallalati
{"title":"Health System Fragmentation and the Syrian Conflict","authors":"A. Abbara, Manar Marzouk, Hala Mkhallalati","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter takes the analysis of the politics of health care further by exploring the way in which Syrian health care fragmented during the civil war. It reviews how Syria’s health system has been devastated by a protracted conflict that has left it politicized and fragmented, with multiple subnational health systems functioning within the country’s borders. It also cites four health systems that have emerged as a result of various geopolitical, fiscal, and humanitarian drivers, making the case for increased collaboration among the various fragments of the Syrian health system. The chapter covers the evolution of the subnational health systems and factors influencing the delivery of health care across the country. It uses the COVID-19 pandemic as a lens to highlight crucial challenges for all Syrian health systems.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116093364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0004
Neve Gordon
{"title":"The Moral Norm, the Law, and the Limits of Protection for Wartime Medical Units","authors":"Neve Gordon","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"Based on ninety-nine interviews carried out with health professionals, this chapter briefly describes how the Syrian government transformed medical units into strategic targets. It then turns to discuss the legal advocacy strategy used by human rights and humanitarian organizations, claiming that while the law provides medical units with a series of protections, it also introduces crucial exceptions, setting out conditions under which warring parties can legally unleash violence against health facilities and staff. Even as accountability for the violation of international humanitarian law has been the primary rallying cry for NGOs seeking justice in Syria, the chapter argues that invoking the law to seek relief from violence is not necessarily the best strategy since the law itself sows doubt on the validity and solidity of the moral injunction to protect medical units.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125589692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0007
J. Whittall
{"title":"Endless Siege","authors":"J. Whittall","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines siege from the perspective of the besieged and discusses the way in which siege follows civilians from within Syria to the places they seek refuge. The effects of siege extend far beyond an army’s stated objectives of military encirclement, and those involved in implementing besiegement extend far beyond the direct parties to a conflict. This chapter argues that political opponents separated by interests and ideologies are united in their use of siege tactics in the “war on terror” era. It analyzes a chain of complicity in generating and exploiting human suffering from Syria to its neighbors and from Europe to its international allies.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"196 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123232737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0006
D. McLean
{"title":"The Business of Conflict","authors":"D. McLean","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter presents an example of how humanitarian aid adapted the realities of the Syrian war. It examines the context of besiegement that reached populations under siege through utilizing the corruption mechanisms of informal networks and smugglers. It also describes how the humanitarian actors’ adaptations to the realities of besiegement, which caused the aid system to contribute to the war economy. The chapter discusses the provision of humanitarian aid by states as a substitute for meaningful foreign policy when healthcare provision was deeply political process steeped in the dynamics of the Syria conflict. It highlights a process of aid delivery that is intertwined with the endemic corruption of the war as a business model, which generated a form of entrepreneurial neutrality.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121826204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0005
D. Chatty
{"title":"When Perceptions and Aspirations Clash","authors":"D. Chatty","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter talks about refugees crossing the borders into neighboring countries, which reveals a discrepancy between the reality on the ground and the standardized approaches taken by humanitarian actors. It cites Turkey as the country where the humanitarian presence was limited, and the Turkish state and civil society took the lead without the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in responding to refugee needs. It also argues that the refugee response in Turkey was provided without undermining refugee agency and dignity. The chapter emphasizes that global templates for humanitarian assistance built from experiences in very different contexts and among populations of significantly different makeup are not easily integrated into Middle Eastern concepts of refuge, hospitality, and charity. It criticizes the architecture of assistance that was built upon templates developed largely among agrarian and poor developing countries.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128077514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0009
Michiel Hofman
{"title":"Naming and Shaming the Bombers","authors":"Michiel Hofman","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter recounts how Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) failed to turn the tide against the attacks on hospitals through its approach of naming and shaming the perpetrators of hospital bombings. It speculates that the failure to stop the attacks was either caused by the way in which the international humanitarian law (IHL) is wired to provide exemption for warring parties or MSF’s inability to deliver consistent messages necessary to generate pressure on offending nations. It also mentions the Syrian government’s denial of assistance to the population and disrespect to the laws of war that centered the state as both perpetrator and aid responder. The chapter looks at the Syrian government’s ability to deny and allow access to services that served to amplify its control and project its sovereignty. It elaborates how the Syrian state centered its own sovereign control by being the focus of diplomatic efforts to ensure humanitarian access.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115699893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0008
A. Khlebnikov
{"title":"Information Warfare and the Role of Global Humanitarians","authors":"A. Khlebnikov","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter expresses concern with the one-sided nature of humanitarian actors’ narratives from Syria, which is promoted by international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) through their large presence in the media. It discusses how these humanitarian actors’ narratives contributed heavily to the growing alienation and intransigence between the opposition and the government, making any meaningful dialogue between them nearly impossible. It also mentions the humanitarian actors’ contribution to the spread of disinformation in the Syrian war due to their presence on only one side of the conflict. The chapter refers to humanitarian actors who continued to defy the constraints on providing assistance by finding ways to deliver aid inside areas under siege and by speaking out against the complete disregard for civilian life and infrastructure by the warring parties. It reviews the history of contemporary humanitarian organizations’ formation, as well as their role and the activities in which they have participated.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116708287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Everybody's WarPub Date : 2021-09-23DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0002
Omar Dewachi, F. Marei, J. Whittall
{"title":"Contested Statehood","authors":"Omar Dewachi, F. Marei, J. Whittall","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0002","url":null,"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.","PeriodicalId":147066,"journal":{"name":"Everybody's War","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131591375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}