Gürcan, E.C.2024-05-192024-05-19202097830304546549783030454647https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45465-4_11https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12713/4368What are the major domestic and external factors that have led to the emergence and diffusion of the 2011 Syrian conflict? Domestic factors concern Syria’s political-economic and political-ecological transitions since the 1970s, particularly the prominence of a resource-based, or extractivist, strategy of economic development, neoliberal restructuring, and inadequate environmental policies. This chapter argues that these factors have rendered Syria vulnerable to the destructive effect of external pressures associated with the role of geopolitics, proxy war, and foreign intervention. In terms of this chapter’s methodology, process tracing is used as the main guideline. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessEnergy SecurityEnvironmental PolicyExtractivismMilitary AllianceSyriaBook Chapter3313502-s2.0-8515012770610.1007/978-3-030-45465-4_11N/A