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In Isolating Dissent, Punishing the Masses: Siege Warfare as Counter-Insurgency, Will Todman analyses the intricate relationship between the nature of the Syrian regime and the military tactics it opted to use to supress those opposed to it, both during the insurgency phase, and the subsequent civil war. Sieges were effective because they allowed the regime to make optimal use of its military advantage. Once you have a segment of the population in a restricted area, you not only control food and medical supplies, but you can also unleash an indiscriminate bombardment campaign, as the regime indeed did. Todman provides a historic context to the use of these tactics by the Syrian regime (i.e. Hama), and addresses the important question of whether or not siege warfare helped the regime surive.

This paper reconstructs the political history of the Syrian Arab Republic from the time of the country's emergence as an independent state in 1946 to the merger with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic in 1958. Two main sources of documentary evidence are brought to add to this analysis: firstly, declassified British government sources are utilized; secondly, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) database on arms exports to the Middle East is used to back up the descriptive analysis of Western strategic interests in the Middle East during the early Cold War period with some relevant quantitative data. From the beginning, Syria faced geopolitical challenges, which worked to undermine the country's political stability. Apart from intra-Arab conflicts and the issue of Zionist colonization in Palestine, Syria quickly developed into a focal point of the Cold War between the Western powers and the Soviet Union. This was due to the refusal of the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) governments to support Syria's statehood in economic and military terms. The Western rejection of substantial assistance to Syria, largely motivated by efforts to back up Israel and fully unrelated to the question of whether or not Syria was governed by democratic or authoritarian rulers, explains the country's shift toward the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s. Next, UK and US attempts to unseat Syrian governments through covert action (especially in 1949 and 1956-1957) are examined. It is shown that these events pushed Syria's leaders to opt for merger with Nasser's Egypt and military assistance from the Soviet Union in order to avoid further destabilization. The paper concludes that Western failure to welcome Syria as an independent actor in the Middle East, which was due to the existence of previous strategic alignment with competing states in the region, opened the door for the Soviet Union to emerge as the long-term patron of the Syrian state.

Political cartoons demonstrate the Syrian refugee crisis and their influx into bordering and European countries from different perspectives by using both visual and verbal metaphors in a caricaturised way. For this reason, this research aims to reveal how political cartoons represent the perilous journey of Syrian refugees and their families visually and verbally. In this regard, twelve political cartoons were selected randomly from the international political cartoon website cagle.com between March 2011 and February 2016, referencing the Syrian refugee crisis, and have been analysed in accordance with metaphorical analysis. From this point of view, as the theoretical framework, this paper uses a semiotic approach that points out the relationship between signs and meanings. Representation of the Syrian refugee crisis, the political stances of the different countries, and their perceptions as reflected in political cartoons are the focus point of this research. Results show that countries remain generally indifferent to Syrian refugee movement. In fact, they do not see the issue as their own problem, and they only consider the threats to their security and socio-economic interests posed by the influx. Moreover, Syrian refugees are represented as lonely, vulnerable and unwanted. ; Publisher PDF

According to the literature, an individual becomes an entrepreneur with two types of motivations: taking advantage of a business opportunity or having no better options for work. The former ones are called opportunity-driven entrepreneurs (ODE) and the latter is called necessity-driven entrepreneurs (NDE). This paper investigates the differences between them and further explore the factors that influence being ODE and NDE. For these purposes, we collected data in Turkey through using the national adult population survey based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project for 3 years (2006-2008). Results confirm that a Turkish entrepreneur that has started the business with the motive of opportunity significantly differs from the ones that have been motivated out of necessity. The possibility of being NDE is higher for the individuals with lower income level. However, the likelihood of being ODE is affected by age. Contrary to the literature, especially for the later years (2007 and 2008), younger people are more likely become ODE. Necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs differ also in terms of their perceptions. In 2006, while knowing someone personally who had started a small business i.e. networking is the main perceptual factor affecting being NDE, one perceiving herself/himself as a knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced person i.e. self-confidence seems to be the major perceptual determinant of taking opportunities to become an entrepreneur, being ODE. However, the picture is different for the following years (2007 and 2008). Both networking and self-confidence are found to influence the likelihood of NDE and ODE. Thus, no matter what the motivation is, one that has networking and self-confidence is more likely to start a new small business in Turkey. These findings are very insightful not only for enhancing the understanding the entrepreneurial environment in Turkey and that way is useful for international traders, but also for policy makers that try to find ways to increase entrepreneurial activities in Turkey.

According to the literature, an individual becomes an entrepreneur with two types of motivations: taking advantage of a business opportunity or having no better options for work. The former ones are called opportunity-driven entrepreneurs (ODE) and the latter is called necessity-driven entrepreneurs (NDE). This paper investigates the differences between them and further explore the factors that influence being ODE and NDE. For these purposes, we collected data in Turkey through using the national adult population survey based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project for 3 years (2006-2008). Results confirm that a Turkish entrepreneur that has started the business with the motive of opportunity significantly differs from the ones that have been motivated out of necessity. The possibility of being NDE is higher for the individuals with lower income level. However, the likelihood of being ODE is affected by age. Contrary to the literature, especially for the later years (2007 and 2008), younger people are more likely become ODE. Necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs differ also in terms of their perceptions. In 2006, while knowing someone personally who had started a small business i.e. networking is the main perceptual factor affecting being NDE, one perceiving herself/himself as a knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced person i.e. self-confidence seems to be the major perceptual determinant of taking opportunities to become an entrepreneur, being ODE. However, the picture is different for the following years (2007 and 2008). Both networking and self-confidence are found to influence the likelihood of NDE and ODE. Thus, no matter what the motivation is, one that has networking and self-confidence is more likely to start a new small business in Turkey. These findings are very insightful not only for enhancing the understanding the entrepreneurial environment in Turkey and that way is useful for international traders, but also for policy makers that try to find ways to increase entrepreneurial activities in Turkey.

In the first issue of Syria Studies to be published in 2017, we are pleased to share three studies that provide important insights on subjects that have gained significant importance in recent times in so far as how they relate to the Syrian context: siege warfare, political cartoons, and gender politics.In Isolating Dissent, Punishing the Masses: Siege Warfare as Counter-Insurgency, Will Todman analyses the intricate relationship between the nature of the Syrian regime and the military tactics it opted to use to suppress those opposed to it, both during the insurgency phase, and the subsequent civil war. Sieges were effective because they allowed the regime to make optimal use of its military advantage. Once you have a segment of the population in a restricted area, you not only control food and medical supplies, but you can also unleash an indiscriminate bombardment campaign, as the regime indeed did. Todman provides a historic context to the use of these tactics by the Syrian regime (i.e. Hama), and addresses the important question of whether or not siege warfare helped the regime survive.In Whose Problem Is It Anyway? The Depiction of Syrian Refugee Influx in Political Cartoons, Özlem Özdemir and Emrah Özdemir explore the way in which the crisis of Syrian refugees was depicted by cartoons that appeared in Western media. In focusing on twelve randomly selected political cartoons, the authors tell a story of suffering that begins with why the refugee is fleeing and ends with how the refugee is being received by both border countries and beyond. The use of political science and communication theory to analyse these cartoons is not common in the current literature and constitutes an important contribution.In Interrogating the Construction of Gendered Identity in the Syrian Nationalist Narrative: Al-Husari, Aflaq and al-Arsuzi, Rahaf Aldoughli sheds an important light on how early Bathist theoreticians planted the intellectual foundation for the way in which gender roles were to be understood and, subsequently, taught and applied in Baathist Syria. Using extensive quotes from original sources, Aldoughli documents the systematic masculinisation of conceptions of nationhood by Baathist theoreticians. Perhaps most significant was the "normalisation of militarism in the national narrative" which, resulted in perpetuating "a hierarchy that obstructs the elimination of the gender gap in the Syrian constitution and legislation."The important common denominator between the above noted studies is 'impact'; more specifically, the extent to which a specific method or idea achieved its desired impact. Todman explores the impact of siege warfare and concludes that despite the fact that the war economy allowed for besieged populations to receive a level of relief, sieges were overall successful in that they allowed for the regime to make use of its military advantage and survive a dire challenge to its very existence. While Özdemir and Özdemir showed that political cartoons can indeed be used to better understand a specific phenomenon, they equally demonstrated that political cartoons are ultimately expressive of a specific mindset that the majority of a population has at any given moment in time, rather than instruments by which public perceptions can be significantly changed. Indeed, the plight of Syrian refugees was not impacted in any significant way by the cartoons examined here. Finally, Aldoughli explores the impact of Baathist ideology on the way in which gender conceptions and roles were manifested in Baathist Syria. Here, impact is easily discerned. The works of early Baathist theoreticians, systematically and deliberately, became the ideological underpinnings of a society that is dominated by the idea of a militarized nation in which men lead both the state and the family.

The Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) is one of the best practices of public-private partnerships in an emerging market designed to reduce economic losses from disasters. This paper reviews the application of this compulsory mechanism along with data relating to the performance of the scheme following recent earthquakes in Turkey. We also consider the current perceptions of Turkish society towards the TCIP and how they can be enhanced. Our conclusions aim to assist stakeholders in government, homeowners, insurance companies, media, banks and civil society to appreciate the value of the system and key actions necessary to improve it.