FES Research and Capacity Building Project, Feb 2018 - Mar 2019
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is running a research and capacity building initiative entitled “Intermediaries in contemporary Syria”. The initiative aims to strengthen the research skills of promising young Syrian researchers and to develop knowledge about the relations between local communities and supra-local powers.
The intermediaries linking local communities to outside authorities are central to how political power is distributed and used in contemporary Syria. These local intermediaries have, historically, been leaders of important families in a town or neighborhood, but they have evolved during the revolution and ensuing civil war, and today include opposition activists, local youths organizing militias, and warlords who have emerged out of prolonged armed conflict, among others. The outside authorities the intermediaries link to include government agencies, opposition bodies, rebel forces, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and Islamist groups. These typically informal relationships are frequently referred to by authors working on contemporary Syria, but are rarely given the in-depth attention needed to fully understand them. This project seeks to uncover, understand and theorize these local relations in several regions of Syria, from 2000 until the present.
FES is involving seven Junior Researchers in the project, who will each produce a report based upon their own original research, being trained and guided by experienced think tank researchers and academics. The initiative represents an unprecedented opportunity for motivated, young researchers to receive systematic instruction from field-leading experts, as well as extensive mentoring and guidance through the research and writing process.
Project structure and details
Eligibility and selection criteria
Applicants had to meet the following eligibility requirements: