Why the Syrian Refugee Crisis...?
My Research Process |
As I have grown up, I have constantly been reminded of my Lebanese heritage, as my grandmother's parents were both born in Lebanon. In fact, to this day, we still call my grandmother "Sitty," which is Lebanese (Arabic) for grandmother. Unfortunately, I did not inherit the tan skin gene typical of Lebanese people, as I am very pale. However, I am proud to call myself around 15% Lebanese. When I began the project, I knew I wanted to look into conflict in the Middle East involving Lebanon. I had some background knowledge on the Syrian Refugee Crisis, but I was amazed in my early research as to how much Lebanon was involved. I also came away stunned at the U.S.'s relative lack of involvement in the conflict, which led me to pick the Syrian Refugee Crisis as my area of analysis.
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As I began to hypothesize, I was initially way too general in my question, and this showed in my research. I started off by focusing on all bordering countries to Syria, and how they were burdened by the influx of refugees. However, I soon realized that Turkey and Lebanon were the two most affected countries by the crisis. I wanted to further condense my research, so I decided to focus Syrian refugees' impact on the economies and political systems of both countries.
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The climax of my research process was undoubtedly turning the research paper in. I took comfort in having consulted over 20 sources to investigate how Syrian Refugees have impacted the economies and political systems of Turkey and Lebanon, and felt like an expert on the topic. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I took a needed sigh of relief.
After handing in the paper, I began to reflect on the research process. While it went very smoothly with the note card format (although very time consuming), I struggled with covering all the areas of my question in a six page paper. I did not really know what I was signing up for in analyzing the crisis's impact on the political systems and economies of two countries. However, I soon discovered that there was a ton of research required to thoroughly answer my question. Additionally, I struggled with finding very recent articles, as the Syrian Civil War has raged on for so long. The public outside of the Middle East has seemingly lost interest in the conflict, so journalists seem to not cover the crisis as extensively as in years past, which is a shame. Ultimately, I was able to find enough recent articles, as well as some older articles that had ideas still applicable to the conflict today.
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While a political solution has not been reached in Syria, the violence that was at one time rampant throughout Syria has deescalated, and war takes place in only a few select areas. Both sides are very worn out, particularly the rebel soldiers, who do not have the resources of President Assad's regime. Currently, the rebels refuse to stop fighting unless President Assad is removed from office; however, with a recent decrease in violence, there is reason to hope for a political resolution in 2018.
Header Borrowed from "iStock by Getty Images"
https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/syrian-flag?excludenudity=true&sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=syrian%20flag
https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/syrian-flag?excludenudity=true&sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=syrian%20flag