Arab spring in syria within the context of social movements theory

The Arab world has witnessed the spread of protest actions known as the "Arab Spring" in recent years. Reflecting a state of public anger, a sense of exclusion and oppression, these protests attracted the attention of the whole world, especially after several dictatorial leaders who had held power for decades have been overthrown. However, protestations are often important struggles for societies that include demands such as equality, freedom and justice against social injustice. While these struggles can be peaceful actions and demonstrations, they can also include using power and violence to force governments to implement the demands of the protesters. In this context, protest actions, generally in countries with democratic system, are an important and effective factor to change public policies making them a part of a more equal and non-discriminatory system serving all segments of the population. Along with supporting and consolidating democracy, these protests increase countries' success in terms of reforming. However, these protests that took place in the Arab world in 2011 and continue to this day have followed a more violent course due to the nature of the dictatorial regimes. Therefore, recognizing the legitimacy of the protests has become very controversial, thus the developments of protests were evaluated within the lens of two approaches. The first approach evaluates these protests in the context of a "conspiracy" led by the USA, Western countries and Israel. In the second approach, developments were associated with internal factors, and the dissatisfaction of the people against the rulers of the state, the troubles they experienced from practices, such as corruption and violence, which had triggered Arab protests. In the first part of this study, in which we consider the latter approach, the protest movements called "Arab Spring" are examined within the framework of scientific theories explaining the nature of social movements and the reasons for their emergence. In the second part of research, the concept of "Arab Spring" is examined in the light of the "conspiracy theory" perspective and the literature of social movements discussed in the first part. Additionally, we focus on the internal factors leading to protests in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In the third and last part of the thesis, the movements in Syria are examined. The internal factors (political, economic, social and cultural) initiated against the regime in 2011 leading to the emergence of protest actions are mentioned. Keywords: Social Movements, Arab Spring, Syria, Social Factors.