As an upbeat and peaceful uprising quickly and brutally descended into a zero-sum civil war, Syria has crumbled from a regional player into an arena in which a multitude of local and foreign actors compete. The volatile regional fault lines that run through Syria have ruptured during this conflict, and the course of events in this fragile yet strategically significant country will profoundly shape the future of the Levant. -- Publisher description.

Acknowledgements -- List of acronyms -- Map of Syria's ethnic and sectarian distribution -- Introduction -The regional and international dimensions of Syria's revolution -- An unpredictable uprising? -- Syria's complex terrain -- Chapter one: the decay of the Syrian state --Bashar al-Assad's consolidation of power -- The challenge of reform and the flawed modernisation of the economy -- The decay of the state -- The nature of the regime -- The centrality of the security forces -- Chapter two: the uprising and the regime -- The political geography of the Syrian uprising -- The regime's response and resilience -- Chapter three: The rise of the opposition -- The emergence of many oppositions -- The militarisation of the uprising -- Revolution and Islamism -- Chapter four: the regional struggle over Syria -- Syria in the regional landscape -- Regional competition: between Turkey, Iran and the Gulf -- Iraq: the spectre of sectarian war reappears -- Vulnerable states: Lebanon and Jordan -- Israel: the end of a predictable relationship -- Chapter five: Syria in the international context -- Western confusion and ambivalence -- An incremental response -- International diplomacy -- Making sense of Western hesitancy -- Russia takes a stand -- Military constraints to intervention -- The Western debate over assisting the rebellion -- Conclusion -- Societal fragmentation -- Who holds power? -- The opposition's challenges -- The regime's survival strategy -- The diplomatic solution: delusion or only game in town?-The troubled regional picture.