Surviving the War in Syria
Survival Strategies in a Time of Conflict

Demonstrates how civilian behaviour in conflict zones involves repertoires of survival strategies, not just migration.

Justin Schon (Author)

9781108842518, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 October 2020

246 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.49 kg

'This is a book that needs to be read.' R. W. Olson, CHOICE connect

It is estimated that of Syria's pre-war population, over half have been displaced from their homes, some having moved abroad and many remaining in the country despite the threats posed by civil war from Bashar Assad's government, ISIS, foreign intervention, and a proliferation of rebel groups and militias. Despite this, migration is just one option out of a broad set of potential self-protection strategies available to civilians, with other strategies including fighting, protesting, collaborating, or hiding. In this study, Justin Schon emphasises that civilian behaviour in conflict zones includes repertoires of survival strategies, instead of migration alone. Providing a microanalysis of civilian self-protection strategies during armed conflict in Syria, Schon draws on ten months of fieldwork in Turkey, Jordan, Kenya, and the United States, with over two hundred structured interviews with Syrian refugees. Exploring how civilians select specific survival strategies, their motives and opportunities, he reveals questions which have the potential to guide new research on civil wars, and affect how we think about other survival strategies, from political, violent, to environmental threats.

Introduction. How civilians protect themselves
1. Theory of civilian survival strategies
2. Interviewing Syrian refugees
3. Who has violent experiences? The reinforcing misfortunes of dangerous locations and dangerous connections
4. How psychological transformations change conflict understandings: narrative evolution vs. narrative rupture
5. How wasta provides opportunity to act safely
6. Why and how people share information during conflict
7. Choosing when to migrate
8. Conclusion

Subject Areas: Armed conflict [JPWS], Terrorism, armed struggle [JPWL], Demonstrations & protest movements [JPWF], Refugees & political asylum [JFFD]