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What began as the Syrian Uprising in March 2011 has evolved into one of the world´s most damaging conflicts. This.book addresses key questions regarding the origins of the uprising and its early trajectory: what were the causes of the conflict, both in terms of structure (crisis and contradictions within the pre-uprising order) and agency (choices of the actors); why did the uprising not lead to democratization and instead descend into violent civil war with a sectarian dimension? The book focuses on internal dynamics and presents a snapshot of how the uprising developed in the first few years.

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