In mid-2016 the Simon-Skjodt Center initiated a research project that aimed to generate constructive discussion among policymakers and academics about how mass atrocities in Syria might have been prevented or mitigated, what might still be done, and what that situation can teach us about saving lives in future instances of genocide and mass atrocities. The project resulted in seven papers, linked below. Learn more about the background to the center’s research project on Syria here.
Critical Junctures in US Policy toward Syria: An Assessment of the Counterfactuals (PDF) by Mona Yacoubian
Subsidizing Rebels, Taxing Atrocities: Saving Lives in Civil Wars (PDF) by Andrew Kydd
An Agent-Based Model of Counterfactual Opportunities for Reducing Atrocities in Syria, 2011–2014 (PDF) by Ian Lustick et al.
Evaluating Counterfactual US Policy Action in Syria, 2011–2016: A Review of Empirical Evidence from Related Cases (PDF) by Daniel Solomon
A Survey of Expert Judgments on the Effects of Counterfactual US Actions on Civilian Fatalities in Syria, 2011–2016 (PDF) by Lawrence Woocher
Protecting Syrian Civilians: The Road Not Taken (PDF) by Ambassador Frederic C. Hof
Genocide in Syria: Could the United States Have Prevented It? (PDF) by FREE-Syria
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Find information on historical cases of genocide and other atrocities.