Religious Sectarianism and Secular Nationalism in the Syrian Civil War

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Parks, Madison
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Global Studies

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The political and social aspirations of a democratic Syria have been largely suppressed under Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The regime’s brutal crackdown of protests and opposition during the Arab Spring launched the nation into crisis. This paper examines the transformation of national and religious identities in Syria during more than a decade of civil war. I will draw on two key historical shifts to contextualize this transformation: first, the rise of Bashar al-Assad to the presidency following the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, and second, the events that followed the Arab Spring protests in 2011. This paper also analyzes the role of the Syrian Ba’ath Party in, on the one hand, perpetuating the legitimacy of the Assad family, and on the other, constructing national unity through a secular model of Arab nationalism. While the conflict in Syria is often framed as sectarian, this paper shows why and how a secularist project of nation-making ends up fueling religious divisions. Bashar al-Assad marked a decisive break with the cross-sectarian coalition that had formerly held the fledgling nation together. To concentrate power in his favor and oppress the opposition, Assad abandoned secular nationalism and turned to religious nationalism. This brutal crackdown launched a nation once unified under a single national identity into a violent sectarian conflict through the intentional weaponization of religious, ethnic, and class differences.

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