Final published version
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - “Loyalism” as Masculinist Identity Politics
T2 - Navigating the Use of Symbolic Discourse in the Syrian War
AU - Aldoughli, Rahaf
PY - 2024/7/10
Y1 - 2024/7/10
N2 - The question of how Syria’s Baathist regime has managed to maintain its domination or hegemony over much of the country’s populace under conditions of extended violence is an ongoing one. Its influence is evident in the apparently uncoerced public demonstrations of support for Bashar al-Assad that have regularly occurred over the decade since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011. In this article I focus on the ideological aspects of this loyalist support and present an analysis that emphasises masculinism as a central aspect of the regime’s strategy to consolidate and maintain political power. While other analyses have described the influence of sectarianism, regional rivalries, patronage networks and securitisation as contributing factors in authoritarian survival in Syria, the gendered dimensions of Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power have received less scrutiny. The broader study of links between militarisation, nationalism and masculinism has much to offer in expanding our understanding of the persistence of Syrian Baathist loyalism.
AB - The question of how Syria’s Baathist regime has managed to maintain its domination or hegemony over much of the country’s populace under conditions of extended violence is an ongoing one. Its influence is evident in the apparently uncoerced public demonstrations of support for Bashar al-Assad that have regularly occurred over the decade since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011. In this article I focus on the ideological aspects of this loyalist support and present an analysis that emphasises masculinism as a central aspect of the regime’s strategy to consolidate and maintain political power. While other analyses have described the influence of sectarianism, regional rivalries, patronage networks and securitisation as contributing factors in authoritarian survival in Syria, the gendered dimensions of Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power have received less scrutiny. The broader study of links between militarisation, nationalism and masculinism has much to offer in expanding our understanding of the persistence of Syrian Baathist loyalism.
KW - loyalism, authoritarianism, Syria civil war
U2 - 10.1080/20581831.2024.2374213
DO - 10.1080/20581831.2024.2374213
M3 - Journal article
JO - Contemporary Levant
JF - Contemporary Levant
SN - 2058-184X
ER -