The Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, in collaboration with the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR), is organizing a public lecture titled
“The post-Assad Syria – An Emerging Neo-patrimonial Theocracy,” to be presented by Rabie Nasser.

Abstract:
This lecture explores the trajectory of state formation and governance in post-Assad Syria, framing it as an emerging neo-patrimonial theocracy characterized by exclusionary politics and deep social fragmentation. The transitional regime’s reliance on sectarian patronage networks and religious legitimation has politicized identity and institutionalized communal division, while repeated massacres and the absence of transitional justice have entrenched collective trauma and distrust. State–society relations are further distorted by the entrenchment of primitive neoliberal reforms that prioritize survivalist marketization over structural development, combined with extractive economic practices that concentrate resources within ruling coalitions and external patrons. The Syrian case highlights how neo-patrimonial and theocratic logics converge with authoritarian coercion and external dependency to produce a fragile, exclusionary order.

Categories: Event, Inclusive Institutions and Citizenship, Past Event

Tags: Events, SCPR, Syria