Syrian Civil War and Europe
Known as the beating heart of the Arab World, Syria has held high geographic and political importance in the Middle East and has been the battlefield of superpowers for centuries. Since the outbreak of the Arab Spring, its central role has been reinforced by its civil war, one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts since World War II, causing significant humanitarian disaster.
With American power diminishing and European power in the region emerging, Europe has begun to exert its impact on Syria, and this book analyzes the diplomatic policies of European countries on Syria from the perspective of Chinese scholars. Starting with a review of the European Unions policies in the Middle East and North Africa as a whole, the authors analyze the Syrian policies of France, the United Kingdom and Germany, the three most influential and representative countries on the European continent. The authors argue that the favored humanitarian intervention concept failed to achieve the expected results, increased the bloodiness of the Syrian civil war and undermined the European Unions advantage in the region.
Researchers and students of international relations as well as Middle East Studies will benefit from this volume.
Zhao Chen is a Senior Research Fellow and Professor, Chief of European Diplomacy Department, Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Zhao Jizhou is Assistant Professor at the Department of European Diplomacy Studies, Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Dr. Zhaos research interests range from European foreign, security and defense policies to ChinaEurope relations and transatlantic relations as well as NATO.
Huang Mengmeng is German Chancellor Fellow of Humboldt Foundation, Visiting Scholar at University Heidelberg and University Tbingen and former Assistant Professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Science. Dr. Huangs research focuses on the trilateral relationship between the United States, China, and Europe.
China Perspectives
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Syrian Civil War and Europe
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Syrian Civil War and Europe
Zhao Chen, Zhao Jizhou Huang Mengmeng
Translated by Zhang Chao
First edition published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2021 Zhao Chen, Zhao Jizhou and Huang Mengmeng
Translated by Zhang Chao
The right of Zhao Chen, Zhao Jizhou and Huang Mengmeng to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
English Version by permission of China Social Sciences Press.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Zhao, Chen, 1977 author. | Huang, Mengmeng, author. |
Zhao, Jizhou, 1975 | Zhang, Chao, 1989 translator.
Title: Syrian Civil War and Europe / Zhao Chen, Zhao Jizhou,
Huang Mengmeng ; translated by Zhang Chao.
Other titles: Xuliya zhan zheng yu Ou Zhou. English | China perspectives series.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020031155 (print) | LCCN 2020031156 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367648961 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003126843 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: SyriaHistoryCivil War, 2011 |
European Union countriesForeign relationsSyria. |
SyriaForeign relationsEuropean Union countries.
Classification: LCC DS98.6 .Z4713 2020 (print) |
LCC DS98.6 (ebook) | DDC 956.9104/232094dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020031155
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020031156
ISBN: 978-0-367-64896-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-12684-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Newgen Publishing UK
Contents
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is geographically important, with abundant strategic resources. But the ethnic and religious conflicts are prominent; and the geopolitical relationships are complicated. The region is not only one important link in the international strategic architecture, but also an important arena for the game of great powers. At the same time, the MENA region was the source of Europes refugee crisis and terrorist attacks in 2015. The relationship between the MENA region and Europe, represented as the Syrian crisis, is very thorny and sensitive, because it involves terrorism, refugees, regional stability, and many other issues. Therefore, since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in March 2011, international and Chinese academics, even the policy community, have paid considerable attention to it.
Given these circumstances, we, the Department of European Diplomacy Studies, Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Science, chose Europe and the Middle East as the first research project of Europe and the World in the 21st Century, the subtopic of the Innovation Project of Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Science. In October 2015, we applied for the Possibility of ChinaEurope Cooperation in the Middle East and Northern Africa project (Project No. KT201612), within the 2016 ChinaEurope Relation Studies Compass Programme by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Funded by the project, we visited Iran and had deep academic discussions and communication with colleagues in the Faculty of World Studies in the University of Tehran and other institutions about the Syria issue to enrich our perceptual cognizance of the Middle East region.