Mirroring (de-)securitization: from stigmatisation to rehabilitation of Syria in the Arab region

Abstract

Following the Syrian regime’s violent crackdown on protesters during the 2011 Syrian uprising, leading powers in the Arab world spearheaded a coordinated effort to isolate the Asad regime. But, since 2018, we have been witnessing a drastic reversal of this policy, with Arab countries reopening their embassies in Damascus. As the conditions that gave rise to ostracising the Syrian regime have only worsened, we should have expected further intensification of the status of Syria as a pariah state, not its rehabilitation. Nevertheless, this remains a protracted ambivalent process: it involves diplomatic normalisation without political and economic reintegration. What explains this ambivalence? To answer this question, I deploy securitization theory and put forth the concept of ‘mirroring’ securitization. I argue that both the securitization and desecuritization of the Syrian regime by leading Arab states mirror the way of thinking about security of their Western allies, especially the US, and targets Western – not Arab – audiences. Arab states’ speech acts concerning Syria have served to either legitimise from the bottom Western security policies or verbalise what Western countries cannot (yet) afford to verbalise. Overall, this article bridges securitization theory and the study of international hierarchies, and reflects on the agential limits and potentials of securitizing actors in the Global South.