the six main factors
Repression
As previously mentioned, new hopes of democracy arose as Bashar Al-Assad came to power after the death of his father in 2000. However, these hopes were diminished as Assad’s rule proved to be regardless, concentrated in the ruling family and the one-party system which left few channels for political dissent. During this time the country went under emergency rule, banning public gatherings of more than five people, and effectively granting security forces the power to put anyone under arrest or detention irrationally. Rights of free expression, association and assembly were strictly controlled in Syria. The authorities harassed and imprisoned human rights activists and other critics of the government, who were indefinitely detained and tortured in poor prison conditions. Women and ethnic minorities faced discrimination in the public sector. Extreme violence is at the heart of the Assad regime's response to popular protests in Syria. The regime is willfully attacking unarmed people with forces, tactics, and weapons meant to be employed on a modern battlefield. Of the resistance efforts targeting the regime, only a small component appears to be armed. With no peaceful transfer of power since 1970’s, change was necessary to protect the rights of Syria’s people and this was only possible through a military coup or uprising.
Economic inequality
Assad’s regime has in the long term led to increased income inequality during the last decade. His reforms of socialism gave birth to privatisation which further caused a fluctuation in the consumerism within the urban upper-middle classes. To compensate, the average monthly salary of employees jumped by more than 20% between 2006 and 2009 which was however, cancelled out by increased inflation. In addition, wage increases benefited those with higher-education degrees much more than less-educated people, who make up 60% of the labour force. Syria has become largely provincial as privatization has favoured families with personal links to Assad and the upper classes which later developed into a basis of the uprising, the lower classes seething with anger as living costs soared and jobs remained scarce.
state violence
Syria’s regime is authoritarian in character with its police force, the infamous mukhabarat, overseeing all areas of society. Many have simply succumbed to the regime in fear of what the state could do to them. The uprising is seen as an opportunity to strengthen members of security services by proving more efficient in the suppression of protests. These structures of violence indicate, first and foremost, that the Assad regime commands a security apparatus with extraordinary destructive potential. The uprising has led to the utilisation of the full force of Syria’s violence in which Assad’s regime used its full range of resources which includes sniping, executions, massacres, detention, and torture. Currently, the consequences have been wide-reaching with 100,000 deaths, 40,000 detainees, 800,000 refugees, four million internally displaced persons, innumerable human rights violations, and several major crime waves. The brutal approach by Syria’s security forces over the peaceful protest in 2011 spurred outrage causing the snowball effect which led thousands across the country joining the rebellion.
religious minority
The differences in the two largest sects of Islam, Sunnis and Shias, has evolved into a larger socio-political issues. The Sunni Muslims make up 64% or Syria’s population while only 18% of the population are Alawis, constituting the country’s largest religious minority. Despite this, power lies in the hands of the Alawis after Hafez Assad’s Alawi family clan gained their position in 1970. As a result, this has also led to the emergence of more Alawi individuals in the higher sectors in security, attaining power and prestige as military officers. Abusing their power the Alawite’s have conscripted polices which act as a hindrance to the Sunni Muslims. Most Syrians pride themselves on their religious heritage, however the Sunnis still resent the fact that most of the power is monopolized within the families of the Alawites. The combination of Sunni protests and Alawite dominated military, resulting from the religious minority has definitely increased tensions across Syria and in turn, led to the Syrian uprising.
drought
The most recent drought in Syria lasted from 2006 until 2010, impacting on food security and has placed 2-3 million people into the category of “extreme poverty”. The UN have reported that over 1.3 million people have been affected by this long term drought of which 800,000 people lost the ability to make a living. The persistent drought has devastated farming communities in north-eastern Syria as tens of thousands of impoverished farmer families flocked into rapidly expanding urban slums. The lower classes are angered at the lack of government help fuelled by the new ostentatious wealth of the regime.
Tunisian snowball effect
The Tunisian snowball effect was caused by a Tunisian street-vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi. He broke the wall of fear between the regime and the population by self-immolating in December 2010. This triggered a wave of anti-government uprisings across the Middle East. Influenced by external uprisings in other regimes such as the fall of Tunisian and Egyptian regimes in early 2011, millions in Syria became aware that change was possible for the first time after years of repression.