Occupying Syria under the French Mandate: Insurgency, Space And State Formation: 38 (Cambridge Middle East Studies, Series Number 38) - Softcover

Neep, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1107435919 ISBN 13: 9781107435919

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2014

Synopsis

What role does military force play during a colonial occupation? The answer seems obvious: coercion crushes local resistance, quashes political dissent and consolidates the dominance of the occupying power. However, as this discerning and theoretically rigorous study suggests, violence can have much more ambiguous consequences. Set in Syria during the French Mandate from 1920 to 1946, the book explores a turbulent period in which conflict between armed Syrian insurgents and French military forces not only determined the strategic objectives of the colonial state, but also transformed how the colonial state organised, controlled and understood Syrian society, geography and population. In addition to the coercive techniques, the book shows how civilian technologies such as urban planning and engineering were also commandeered in the effort to undermine rebel advances. Colonial violence had a lasting effect in Syria, shaping a peculiar form of social order that endured well after the French occupation.

About this title

Book Description:

This rigorous study explores how French colonial violence laid the foundations for modern day Syria. Focusing on the inter-war Mandate period, it explains how the French used new strategies to conquer the country. The interplay between violence, spatial colonisation and pacification continues to resonate with recent developments in the region.

About the Author:

Dr Daniel Neep is a lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter and Research Director (Syria) at the Council for British Research in the Levant.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1107435919
• ISBN 13: 9781107435919
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248