Tribes and Territory in Modern Day Syria

ISSN： 1480-6800

Source： The Arab World Geographer, Vol.5, Iss.2, 2002-01, pp. : 102-112

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Abstract

It is widely perceived that amongst the key factors behind rangeland degradation in Western Asia and North Africa (WANA) is the loss of political power by pastoral groups and the breakdown of their traditional systems of resource control. For many Arab countries that gained their independence after World War Two the role played by customary law among the moving tribes was seen as an anathema to a fledgling nation and what formal recognition it had was removed. A corollary to this was the nationalisation of the rangelands, which in theory, at least, opened the pastures to all nationals. The objectives to do away with policy of legal pluralism and undermine the tribal structure was no more pronounced than in Syria, the home of Arab Nationalism and the Socialist Ba'th Party, and in 1958 this was achieved. This paper examines the customary administration, its adaptation to increasing land scarcity and a hostile political environment, and the potential it has in future range management schemes. It will do this in part through detailing for the first time, a series of related written treaties secured among disputing tribes and guaranteed by the state over a quarter century, 1956 - 1981. Elsewhere in the WANA the tenacity of traditional systems is also coming to light. With the ineffectiveness of past state interventions, coupled with the growing fiscal crisis of the state throughout the region, these local institutions make the devolution of management responsibility to local organizations a feasible and an attractive option for policy makers.