Executive Summary Syria faces a devastating “polycrisis.” The growing impacts of climate change are deeply connected to years of poor governance, a brutal conflict lasting over a decade, and a severe economic collapse. This report argues these are not separate problems. Instead, they are part of a single, widespread failure. Environmental damage has both driven
Syria's building codes, including the Syrian Arab Code for seismic design, are dated and, far more fatally, unenforced, and the 2023 earthquakes showed what that gap costs. A comparison with Jordan, Israel, the UAE, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy and the UK shows the fix is institutional: an independent code authority, regular updates and real enforcement, not better paper.
Executive Summary The new government in post-Assad Syria faces a crucial moment. Instead of acting like a mature government, a worrying pattern has appeared. Their approach to rule is reactive, almost childish, like a brutal militia rather than a proper state. This “eye for an eye” thinking, marked by quick reactions and using force, is
The Assad state carried “ghost employees” for decades, and dismantling that payroll is a genuine and urgent reform. It is also a decision about who eats next month, taken by a government with little fiscal room and no reliable count of the people it is about to release. This argues for sequencing the social safety net ahead of the layoffs, and treats the missing data as the central problem rather than a footnote.
How Shared Leadership Can Rebuild Syria The tragic sinking of the cargo ship El Faro in 2015 offers a powerful warning. This disaster, caused by rigid top-down leadership, extends far beyond the maritime world. In his book “Leadership is Language,” David Marquet uses this incident to show how well-meaning leaders, if they stick to traditional
An annual government budget is not merely a collection of financial estimates; it is a direct statement of a state's priorities. For countries emerging from conflict, such as Syria, the budget becomes the absolute cornerstone of reconstruction efforts. This analysis explores the lessons Syria can draw from the UK and Rwanda.