Disrupting Syrian Economic Networks
Perkins,John J.
The ability of the U.S. to use diplomacy or military action to affect the Syrian situation has largely passed. This paper explores the economic causes leading to the Syrian Civil War, as well as the entrenched economic systems that help it continue. These include Privileged Networks, which support regime survival, and the War Economy, which sustains both sides of the Civil War as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL.Methods of attacking these networks utilizing concepts from the information economy such as Disruptive Innovation, Network Effect, and Minimum Viable Product, are explored via a mobile banking construct. Implementation of such an approach would utilize the overwhelming Economic and Informational power of the U.S., which could isolate and potentially defeat parts of these systems, helping stabilize both the Syrian and regional economies.