How so countries fuction during uprisings?

.jacksparrow.

Take Syria for example, if half the country is in the hands of rebels how does that half function normally, like food, banking, logistics, etc.

Can the assadi regime not put a stop to supplies reaching it?

What about currency and trading, how do the rebels take all this on?

realweirdo

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Take Syria for example, if half the country is in the hands of rebels how does that half function normally, like food, banking, logistics, etc.

Can the assadi regime not put a stop to supplies reaching it?

What about currency and trading, how do the rebels take all this on?

Interesting questions and there are equally interesting answers to it.

In some areas the government and rebels actually collaborate. Teachers for example in rebel areas often still get salaries and pensions from the government. Rebels own many oil fields and sell oil to the government. Their checkpoints are in places not far apart. In Damascus and other areas there are localised ceasefires and you can go from government areas to rebel areas and vice versa. In many regards, both sides have come to acknowledge the status quo and the other side aren't going away anytime soon. There is no real hope of the rebels overthrowing Assad in the near term and equally there is no real hope of Assad winning back most of territory from the rebels in the near future. IS alone run about a 3rd of the country and are now estimated to have 50,000 fighters. It's basically a stalemate with civilians caught in the middle and trying to get along.

RichardAnd

The trade between belligerents is a very interesting aspect of war. In WW1, the British traded rubber with the Germans for binoculars.

http://www.neatorama.com/2012/01/03/wartime-trade-between-belligerents-of-actual-war-materials/

Of all humanity's strange habits, war is probably the most bizarre!

comongethappy

There is also debt.

Ukraine has limited resources & tax revenues all but collapsed.

They function through borrowing.
I'd imagine Syria has had to borrow whatever it can get its hands on also.

Hayte

Varies depending on the region and the degree to which state infrastructure has collapsed and how sophisticated it was prior to collapse.

Check out a documentary called "Liberia: An Uncivil War" which documents the end of the 2nd Liberian civil war and the final push from LURD rebels into the capital city of Monrovia. At that point, the LURD controlled about a third of the country and took the capital with somewhere in the region of 2500 to 4000 fighters.

The government side was documented by Johnathan Stack, the rebel side by James Brabazon and Tim Hetherington. Its also worth watching the frontline club talks with James Brabazon and Tim Hetherington which revisit the Liberian civil wars and give alot more context to what you are seeing.

There is also a documentary on UN Peacekeepers in the DRC, which I forget the name of right now but it is on youtube. It is tangentially related in the sense that it gives you an idea of what the UN does in countries that are in danger of becoming failed states, but the key point to take from it is their mission goal. There is alot of international politics, budgeting and reporting requirements that help to explain why the goal is as limited as it is.

You might think that the provision of basic healthcare, education services, telecommunications and transport infrastructure are essential to the foundation of a modern state but all of these things are not mission critical. In this documentary, the only thing that was deemed mission critical was rule of law and a large enough military/police presence to enforce it. It also had to be incorruptible which was (and still is) a problem.

The basic concept (I think) is its pointless building anything when it cannot be protected. One of the ways paramilitary units in Liberia could survive outside of the state is through extortion of local populations. In a failed state (as Liberia was considered to be in the late 90s and early 00s) where arms are cheap and plentiful, military and law enforcement is inadequate and corruptible, groups of young men with assault rifles can just take what they need from people who can't fight back.

DarkyHughes

Well when the IRA were in control of South Armagh the British used Helicopters to airlift people & supplies in & out of the place.
That was the only place the IRA really could claim to at least de jure control, even the old IRA in West Cork didn't have the same type of hold over the area the PIRA had in South Armagh.

Manach

In history, there is a great deal on institutional momentum that keeps services running. For instance in the US Civil war, from local to state level a number of ad-hoc arrangements came into effect to keep utilities like mail being delivered. This involved local compromises between parties that were officially in conflict but had enough common sense to at least allow local truces for mail delivery.

steveblack

Is the fact that countries keep working proof that most of what government does is not needed?
People just get on with life.

Phoebas

steveblack wrote: »

Is the fact that countries keep working proof that most of what government does is not needed?
People just get on with life.

Or proof that what government does is so important that it even during uprisings accommodations are made to keep essential government run services working.

.jacksparrow.

Thanks for the replies,find it a fascinating subject.

Seems like the only people who suffer are the civilians who never had a say either way.

Every town I see that has been "freed" looks like it had a nuke dropped on it.

MouseTail

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Thanks for the replies,find it a fascinating subject.

Seems like the only people who suffer are the civilians who never had a say either way.

Every town I see that has been "freed" looks like it had a nuke dropped on it.

One thing I found fascinating in the Vice News documentary about ISIS was the establishment of societal structures, judicial systems, schools/indoctrination camps, revenue raising systems etc. I expected more chaos I think.

.jacksparrow.

MouseTail wrote: »

One thing I found fascinating in the Vice News documentary about ISIS was the establishment of societal structures, judicial systems, schools/indoctrination camps, revenue raising systems etc. I expected more chaos I think.

Sounds like a good documentary.

MouseTail

Some parts are pretty awful, no beheadings shown, but still graphic. Would be interested in others views.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/07/vice-islamic-state_n_5656202.html