Από την Αραβική Άνοιξη στον Αραβικό Χειμώνα. Γεωπολιτικές αλλαγές, κοινωνικές μεταβάσεις και νέα γενιά στην περίπτωση της Συρίας
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Keywords
Αραβική Άνοιξη ; Συρία ; Αραβικός Χειμώνας ; Γεωπολιτική ; Ευθύνη για προστασία ; Arab Spring ; Youth ; Arab Winter ; Geopolitics ; Responsibility to protect ; R2PAbstract
The present Master’s thesis examines the transition from the Arab Spring to the period widely described as Arab Winter, with particular focus on the role and lived experiences of the younger generation in Syria. The Arab Spring emerged as a wave of social and political uprisings across the Arab world, revealing deep structural inequalities, authoritarian governance, economic marginalisation, utilising both public protest spaces and digital technologies to organize action and disseminate demands for dignity, social justice and political freedom.
The Syrian case constitutes the core case study of this research, as the initial youth-led protests of 2011 rapidly escalated into one of the most destructive and protected civil conflicts of the twenty-first century. The thesis, analyses how the militarisation and internationalisation of the Syrian uprising transformed the political space available to the younger generation, while regional actors increasingly reshaped the conflict according to broader geopolitical interests. The consequences for Syrian youth have disruption, labor insecurity and profound social fragmentation, ultimately producing the conditions of what international organisations describe as “lost generation”.
Furthermore, the thesis explores the gendered dimensions of these transformations, highlighting that young women experienced additional layers of exclusion and vulnerability, yet also developed distinct forms of resilience and social agency. At the geopolitical level, the study investigates the broader shifts in the international system after 2011, including the crisis of multilateral governance and the failure of the Responsibility to Protect – R2P principle in the Syrian context. The inability of the international community to ensure effective protection for civilians has deeply affected youth political socialisation and trust in global institutions.
Overall, this thesis argues that youth should not be approached merely as a demographic category, but as a crucial social and political actor whose experiences, strategies of adaptation, and future expectations will decisively shape the prospects of peacebuilding, social cohesion and post-conflict reconstruction in Syria and the wider region.