Syria: Alawi regime or modern nation state?

Breakfast seminar at Fafo 17th February 2010, 08.30-09.45,
Borggata 2B Oslo

Syria is widely regarded as governed by the Alawis since Hafez Al-Asad came to power in 1970. But is it true? What characterize relations between the Alawite community and the Syrian state? How well has the regime integrated the Alawi coastal region into the Syrian nation state?

Lecturer: Professor Fabrice Balanche, Orient and Mediterranean Institute, University of Lyon
Discussant: Kjetil Selvik, Fafo
Chair: Åge A. Tiltnes, Fafo

Registration by February 16th on http://www.fafo.no/paameld_100217.html
Breakfast (sandwiches, fruit, coffee and tea) served from 08:15. The seminar will be in English.

This event is a cooperation between Fafo and the Åsgard Programme founded by the French Embassy in Norway and the French-Norwegian Foundation for Research (FFN-FNS), and which invites French scholars to visit Norway to give lectures and to explore institutional cooperation.

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Fafo is situated in Borggata 2B by the Police House and behind Grønland church. 10 minutes from Oslo Central Station, 5 minutes from Grønland or Tøyen subway stations, Bus no. 37 stops outside. Map

Dr. Fabrice Balanche, University of Lyon

Dr. Balanche has lived and worked in Syria, and has published widely on Syria and Lebanon. His latest papers on Syria are “Clientelism, ethcnicity and territory in Syria”, “Syria and Lebanon relationships”, and “Territorial fragmentation and public authority: Damascus government paralysis”.

Fafo-researcher Kjetil Selvik

Dr. Selvik’s research interest concentrates on state-society relations. Two recent titles on Syria are: “Changing Regime Discourse and Reform in Syria” (with Aurora Sottimano) and “Limits of “authoritarian upgrading" in Syria: private welfare, Islamic charities, and the rise of the Zayd movement” (with Thomas Pierret).