Normative Costs of Normalizing Al-Assad

Terrorism & Ungoverned SpacesNeo-PopulismNATO & its AdversariesThe Struggle for Global Leadership
Written By Burcu Ozcelik
 

All signs indicate that President Bashar al-Assad has survived Syria’s civil war. Rather than being held accountable for atrocities committed during the conflict, however, al-Assad and his sidekicks are still at the helm. To be sure, Syria remains isolated, as its highly anticipated return to the Arab League was recently thwarted, and the country continues to be subject to a stringent American-led sanctions regime.

Yet, normalization, while far from complete, is afoot as al-Assad has achieved diplomatic re-engagement and a resumption of economic trade with some states…

- Bucu Ozcelik for Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Burcu Ozcelik

Dr Burcu Ozcelik is an Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. She holds a PhD in Politics and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and subsequently held the prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the Department of Politics and International Studies where she taught Conflict, Peacebuilding, and the Politics of the Middle East. Dr Ozcelik’s research primarily focuses on the international relations of the Middle East, non-state armed actors and peacebuilding. She has extensive experience with Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Israel.

https://twitter.com/burcuaozcelik
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