Miss Aliyah Sarber

Boston University

Bio

Aliyah Sarber is a doctoral student in Higher Education Leadership at Boston University. Her academic work focuses on international politics, state power, and external intervention. She has studied the Middle East since her undergraduate education, with particular attention to Syria and the dynamics shaping the region. Her ASMEA paper examines Syria’s position in the international system during the civil war and builds on research conducted for her master’s thesis.

External Security Intervention and the Illusion of State Power: Syria in the International System

Abstract

This work examines how external security intervention shapes state power, using Syria as a case study. It argues that sustained involvement by external actors increased Syria’s geopolitical significance without strengthening its independent state capacity. Drawing on International Relations theory, the paper examines how extrinsic intervention positioned Syria as a strategically significant arena despite domestic weakness. Syria therefore illustrates the “illusion” of state power: international importance can increase as autonomous state capacity declines.