Protracted Civil War in Syria Defies All Concerted Efforts to End It

Abstract

The paper critically analyzes the reasons for the protraction and intractability of the Syrian
civil war despite several concerted efforts to resolve it. The analysis leads to identifying seven
theories that proffer different explanations each of which addresses an aspect of the problem. The
explanations are that Syria’s civil war is prolonged and intractable due to the institutional weakness of
the United Nations and the infighting in the United Nations Security Council; the sectarianization of
the civil war by Islamist extremist rebel groups; the Syrian opposition’s deployment of violent
approach instead of sticking to non-violent approach; the Syrian rebels’ abundant profits from Syria’s
illicit economy; the West’s reluctance to use military action against the Syrian government because
such action will be unprofitable; internal factors which include the peculiar nature of the dynamics of
the civil war and the internal politics and institutional power structure of the major internal players in
the war; and external factors like the obstructive behaviour and activities of external players,
especially great powers. While these theory-based explanations are important, the paper concludes
that the last account is most likely the truest reason why the Syrian civil war continues up to now in
its eighth year.