Redefining Ceasefires : Wartime Order and Statebuilding in Syria

Using rare primary sources and interviews with over 80 Syrians and other experts, Marika Sosnowski explores the previously unexamined consequences of ceasefires on wartime order and statebuilding in Syria. From rebel governance to citizen and property rights, Sosnowski shows that the impact of ceasefires goes far beyond temporary halts to violence.

Since 2012, ceasefires have been used in Syria to halt violence and facilitate peace agreements. However, in this book, Marika Sosnowski argues that a ceasefire is rarely ever just a ''cease fire''. Instead, she demonstrates that ceasefires are not only military tactics but are also tools of wartime order and statebuilding. Bringing together rare primary documents and first-hand interviews with over eighty Syrians and other experts, Sosnowski offers original insights into the most critical conflict of our time, the Syrian civil war. From rebel governance to citizen and property rights, humanitarian access to economic networks, ceasefires have a range of heretofore underexamined impacts. Using the most prominent ceasefires of the war as case studies, Sosnowski demonstrates the diverse consequences of ceasefires and provides a fuller, more nuanced portrait of their role in conflict resolution.