The Syrian regime is turning to reconstruction to boost legitimacy and consolidate control, a process that also benefits its external allies.
Benedetta Berti is a foreign policy and security researcher, analyst, author, and lecturer. Her work focuses on human security and internal conflicts, as well as on post-conflict stabilization and consolidation—specifically integration of armed groups, democracy and governance, and crisis management and prevention. Dr. Berti is a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a TED Senior Fellow, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) and the Modern War Institute. She is the author of three books, including Armed Political Organizations: From Conflict to Integration (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Her work and research have appeared in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Mediterranean Politics, and the Middle East Journal, among others. She is a Member of the UN Alliance of Civilizations "Global Experts" program, the Young Atlanticist group of the Atlantic Council, the Körber Foundation’s Munich Young Leader group, and the ME 2.0 Israeli-Palestinian Young Business Leaders Forum. In 2015 the Italian government awarded her the Order of the Star of Italy (order of Knighthood). Dr. Berti holds a PhD and an MA in international relations and security studies from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
The Syrian regime is turning to reconstruction to boost legitimacy and consolidate control, a process that also benefits its external allies.
Despite the inherent challenges of finding a long-term solution to Lebanon’s refugee crisis, its focus on short-term responses could worsen social and political cleavages and foster new forms of marginalization.
Warring parties in Syria have weaponized aid by granting or withholding humanitarian access, complicating the work of aid organizations.