Enduring ambiguity : Sunni community-Syrian regime dynamics

Abstract

The paper's central thesis is that authoritarian regimes can benefit from the presence of domestic (Sunni) civil activism; through a social dynamic that creates an incentive for Sunni activists to actively approach regime actors. The article poses that they thereby imply a subservience to the regime and ascribe authority to it. This dynamic is a result of a social convention that outlines how bargaining, accommodation and coalition management between regime and Sunni actors should evolve. This convention emerges as reaction to the ambiguous nature of state repression vis-a-vis Sunni civil activism.