Recent studies of civil war have problematized frameworks that rely on a strict binary between state-sanctioned order and anarchy. This paper extends these insights and combines them with theories of performativity to examine welfare practices during the Syrian conflict (2011-2015). Specifically, we argue that conceptualizing the state as a construct—as an effect of power—can expand the study of civil war beyond its quantifiable aspects and embrace the performative dimensions of political life. By means of everyday, iterative acts such as welfare provision, competing groups summon the state, and the political order it seeks to enshrine, into existence: they make it both tangible and thinkable. During civil war, the ability to perform these prosaic acts becomes a matter of pressing military and political concern. Through close scrutiny of various cases, we dissect the impact of subsidized bread provision by the Assad regime, the Free Syrian Army, and armed Islamist groups as they struggle to perform the state. our aim is to bring attention to under-studied governance practices so as to analyze the otherwise opaque relations between welfare provision, military success, and civilian agency during Syria’s civil war.

中文翻译：

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努力表现国家：叙利亚内战中的面包政治

最近的内战研究对框架提出了质疑，这些框架依赖于国家批准的秩序与无政府状态之间的严格二元关系。本文扩展了这些见解，并将其与绩效理论相结合，以研究叙利亚冲突（2011-2015年）期间的福利实践。具体而言，我们认为，将国家概念化为一种建构-作为一种力量的影响-可以将内战的研究扩展到其可量化的方面之外，并涵盖政治生活的表现维度。通过日常的反复行动，例如提供福利，竞争性团体召集国家及其试图巩固的政治秩序，它们得以存在：它们使国家既切实又切实可行。在内战期间，执行这些平淡无奇的行为的能力成为紧迫的军事和政治问题。通过仔细检查各种案件，我们剖析了阿萨德政权，叙利亚自由军和伊斯兰武装武装团体在努力执行该州时提供面包补贴的影响。我们的目的是引起人们对未被充分研究的治理实践的关注，以便分析叙利亚内战期间福利提供，军事成功和文职机构之间原本不透明的关系。