| dc.description.abstract | Two years on from the Syrian regime’s military recapture of the whole of Rural Damascus, the fates of influential local actors, including communal dignitaries, religious clerics, businessmen, civil society activists and military commanders, appear to vary from area to area depending on a range of factors. Based mostly on interviews with members of reconciliation committees and local councils, and civil and military actors involved in negotiation processes, this paper presents a comparative study of six areas in Rural Damascus – Zabadani, Douma, Yalda, Qudsaya, al-Tall and Moadhamiyat al-Sham – to explain both changes and continuity in the local social actors and their roles. The research reveals three broadly distinct categories. In areas that were subject to intense warfare ending in the forced displacement of most of the population backed up by powerful foreign intervention, local communities have undergone severe trauma, their social fabric has been torn apart and their most prominent social actors lost. In areas that witnessed only partial displacement and limited external intervention, Sufi clerics, who took the lead during reconciliation processes, maintained a presence afterwards, albeit with roles that steadily diminished over time. In areas that witnessed only partial displacement and limited external intervention but where strong social and family networks were of great significance, some local community figures were able to remain and maintain their roles in the post-reconciliation phase. | en |
