O terrorismo como nova guerra?

: o caso da Síria

Abstract

War is a phenomenon that is constantly changing and evolving. Many authors, including Mary Kaldor, believe that the war at the end of the 20th century, beginning of the 21st century, is a totally different war from Clausewitz's model of war, which was characterized by a large-scale combat, in which each side intended, through violence, compel the other to his will, with the immediate objective of defeating his opponent, making him incapable of rebuilding forces for a possible later attack, whose financing is characterized by the revenues of the states at war - as happened, for example, in the Prussian War or in the First World War. The new wars are different from this model of war, as they are conflicts between state and non-state actors and use unconventional war tactics, that is, irregular, such as guerrilla tactics and terrorist actions, whose funding does not come from state revenues, but above all from illicit sources such as organized crime. In this research, and based on Mary Kaldor's concept of "new war", we intend to explain what this phenomenon consists of, how it emerges, as well as whether terrorismcan be considered a "new war" or not it is just a tactic of the same. In this way, the phenomenon of terrorism will also be analyzed, namely the debate between those who defend the existence of an old terrorism and a new terrorism and the interconnection of the characteristics of the latter terminology with the “new wars”. Finally, and through the case study of Syria, the conflict that broke out in 2011 with the Arab Spring and which persists will be analyzed. The different phases of the conflict, the different factions and the characteristics of the war that has been going on for a decade will be studied, with a view to understanding whether Syria can be, or not, considered as the stage for a “new war”.

Date of Award	22 Mar 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Raquel Duque (Supervisor)