Russia Interfaces seminar "Lessons from the Syrian crisis - The confrontation between the West, Iran, Russia and China" by Fabrice Balanche

As part of the Russia Interfaces seminar, Fabrice Balanche, lecturer in geography at Lyon 2 University and associate researcher at the Washington Institute think-tank, will present his latest book, "Les leçons de la crise syrienne - L'affrontement entre l'Occident, l'Iran, la Russie et la Chine", Odile Jacob, Paris, 2024.
portrait de Fabrice Balanche
Portrait de Fabrice Balanche © DR‎

About the book

In 2011, in Syria, in the wake of the Arab Spring, a fiercely repressed protest movement against Bashar al-Assad's regime turned into a civil war. The West encouraged the rebellion and took a stand against the dictator, who was ostracized by the international community.
But on May 19, 2023, Bashar al-Assad was the guest of honor at the Arab League summit in Jeddah. How could France, and for a time the entire Western camp, have been so blind to the causes of the crisis, to the true nature of the forces opposing Bashar al-Assad, and to the role played by Islamists?
In this book, Fabrice Balanche, on the basis of his knowledge of Syria and its region, analyzes the internal causes of the crisis, details the course of the conflict and places it in the game of the external powers involved.
Are the West's errors a symptom of a loss of influence, faced with the rise of a Eurasian axis and dictatorial powers of which petromonarchies and theocracies are becoming de facto allies?
A key book for understanding what the Syrian crisis really means.

Couverture de l'ouvrage "Les leçons de la crise syrienne"
Couverture de l'ouvrage "Les leçons de la crise syrienne" de Fabrice Balanche © Odile Jacob‎

About the author

A agrégé (1995), doctorate from the University of Tours (2000) and lecturer in geography (since 2007) at the University of Lyon 2, Fabrice Balanche has been habilitated to direct research since November 2013. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution (2017-2018), after having been a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (2015-2017), two institutions where he is still a research associate. His first stay in the Middle East began in 1990. Since then, he has lived for ten years in Syria and Lebanon, the focus of his research.
Scholarship (1990-1991), research grant (1996-1998) at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO), then head of the Observatoire Urbain du Proche Orient at IFPO (2003 - 2007). Director of the Groupe de Recherches et d'Etudes sur la Méditerranée et le Moyen-Orient (GREMMO, UMR 5291) at the Maison de l'Orient (2010 and 2015).
Since 2017, he has been attached to the Environnement, Ville et Société (EVS, UMR 5600) laboratory at the University of Lyon-Saint Etienne.
Institutionally, Fabrice Balanche has been head of the Geography Department at the University of Lyon 2 since September 1, 2021, and is an ex-officio member of the board of the UFR Temps et Territoire. He has been an elected member of the Research Commission and the Academic Council of Université Lyon 2 since November 2020.
Finally, Mr. Balanche has worked with various NGOs since the start of the Syrian crisis. His commitment to humanitarian aid led him to MSF (2018), Solidarité (2019-2020) and most recently Mines Advisory Group (MAG), for which he produced an expert report on security in northeast Syria and the presence of explosives (2022). As part of the "Reconstructing the Levant" research program, NGOs are indispensable partners.

Organizer: Taline Ter Minassian
Contact: taline.terminassian@inalco.fr