REPORT: Social Networks, Class, and the Syrian Proxy War

The Syrian conflict began in 2011 as a mass uprising, with protesters gathering in one small town after the next to demand the end of a 40-year dictatorship. It quickly morphed into a complex, multi-sided war. By 2014, the conflict was simultaneously a revolution, a civil war, and a proxy war involving nearly a dozen countries. Why were the Syrian rebels so fractured? What role did outside powers–the Gulf States, Turkey, and the United States–play in this?

This report, by Anand Gopal and Jeremy Hodge, in partnership with New America, explores how local social networks and socioeconomic class influenced the origins and trajectory of Syria’s proxy war. In Syria, social networks and class played a key role in determining which segments of the rebellion were more susceptible to forming transnational linkages, and when those linkages allowed foreign patrons to wield effective control over their proxies.