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Sharaa and Islamic Francoism - Coggle Diagram

- - - - To bind this coalition together, al-Sharaa has developed an ideology that is termed by many as neo-Umayyadism. This has seen the establishment of many traditional Islamist positions including the creation of the Supreme Fatwa Council [3], the supporting of religious, informal justice mechanisms [7] and the development of a Shura mechanism through the parliament.
        
        However, it has not pushed for the establishment of hardline Islamist positions such as those adopted by the Taliban, with alcohol being on sale in parts of Syria and the constitution being surprisingly secular in its language and lack of Islamic references [8]. Whilist this does not show that al-Sharaa has completely shed his Iblib days ideology, it does suggest a lack of dogmatism.
        
        These religious elements enable al-Sharaa to frame his government as somewhat religious, drawing on a sense of Sunnism, defending Sunni Islam (a powerful message in Syria) and the formation of a Sunni entity.
        
        Might want to refine this and explore in more depth.
- - - - Al-Sharaa is a devout Muslim radicalised into jihadism by the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader percived humilation of the Arabs by Western governments.
    - - After winning the civil war the new government needed to bind this coalition together in something grander then a crusade against the Spanish Republic and Communism. While to start with, this was in the form of fascism, the end of the Seccond World War forced a change to this.
        
        What emerged in its place was National Catholicism. This saw the Civil War and the government continuously portrayed as a crusade to defend Catholicism and defeat its enemy, Communism. In terms of the state this new ideology saw an expanion of the church in many ways: the Catholic Church saw its role expand as it was placed in charge of censorship (with its publications being given more freedom), key members of the Catholic group Opus Dei (in many ways a Catholic Muslim Brotherhood) being placed in the ministries of trade and finance, the state subsidies churches, clerics were given special legal treatment and religous advisory ministries were set up in a range of different government agencies [4][5][6].
        
        This new ideology bound Franco's coalition together by providing a conservative structure to the regime that enabled it to present itself as defending Spanish, Catholic values which all supporters of Francos belived the old government were attacking. However, National Catholism did not establish a theocracy and ensured the Franco remained in charge and able to govern as he liked under the cover of a religious, conservative and nationalist ideas.
        
        Might want to refine this and explore in more depth.
- - - - If Syria is to have autocratic governance reimposed on it, I think this route is more likely. This model will satisfy some of al-Sharaa's coalition just as it satisfied much of Franco's base while enabling him to bring in new supporters from moderate Islamists happy to see a government promoting Islam and nationalist Syrians.
- - - - However, with the takeover of Syria, this coalition is not large enough to hold the country together and provide Sharaa with a support base, something he is in need of as SiT polling in Sunni Arab provinces, which should be his heartlands, suggests satisfaction with the government slipping [1]. Not only is Islamism a contested vision for governance which struggles to draw more than 30% support in the Middle East and which has majorities in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia saying it was bad when it came to power [2], but a hardline Sunni-Arab Islamism will alienate the 25% of Syrians who are from minorities [3] and are therefore not included in the vision. This is both a moral problem and a secueity problem which limits al-Sharaa's ability to impose a government entirely by dictat.