‘Penetration Through Fragmentation’ Modelling Authoritarian Survival versus Resilience in the Middle East

This thesis centres on authoritarian survival in deeply penetrated regions of the Middle East. The main research question that the thesis tackles is: what explains the survival of the authoritarian regime in Syria since 2000? The Syrian regime showed high level of elasticity in facing multiple regional and local turbulence since the beginning of the new millennium that posed existential threats for the survival of the regime of Bashar Assad, yet it defied the odds and survived it all. The transfer of power to a new and untrained president; the war on terror; the Syria Accountability Act and the Syrian Uprising, are to name a few of many turbulent factors that have blighted and ended regimes in the Middle East, while the Syrian regime suffered only minor economic concussion and remained intact. By answering this question, lessons can be learnt on how states in the late formation survive even through the hardest of conditions. Current theories on Middle East authoritarianism have gone a long way in describing authoritarian resilience in the Middle East while considering the peculiarities of the region, yet these theories gave humble attention to the role played by external forces in authoritarian survival, leaving room for further testing and theorisation. The study examines this question through a mixed method research design with emphasis on qualitative analysis using a single case study analysis that looks onto a state as a homogenized identity persevering to equipoise power balance between structures and human agency. This thesis suggests an analytical framework of state survival in a geostrategically penetrated region within the boundaries of the post-colonial Middle East state system. I called this framework a “Penetration Through Fragmentation” Model of authoritarian resilience-vs-survival, whereby, Penetration represents the role of external powers and Fragmentation represents the role of local political networks, both modern and premodern, in the resilience of authoritarian regimes

A New Variant Mutation in SKIV2L Gene in Case of Trichohepatoenteric Syndrome

Trichohepatoenteric syndrome is an autosomal recessive genetic disease with an estimated prevalence of 1:100,000. The mutation of the disease is placed either in SKIV2L or TTC37 genes. The onset of presentation is variable, but symptoms usually start with intractable diarrhea associated with woolly hair abnormality, immune dysfunction, and sometimes hepatic abnormality. This case is of a 10-month-old girl who was born at 37 + 2 weeks due to symmetrical intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), with a low birth weight (1320 g). It was noticed during her stay in NICU that she had excessive diarrhea on day 8. Gastroenterology suggested starting an extensively-hydrolyzed formula, but no improvement noticed. The multidisciplinary teams decided to order whole-exome sequencing analysis after excluding diarrhea causes. The analysis detected a new variant mutation (c.1297C > T) p. (Arg433Cys). To our knowledge, this is the first time detected in a homozygous state in the SKIV2L gene, as this variant mutation has not been described in any previous literature. Our case was managed mainly by total parenteral nutrition. The patient responded to the treatment appropriately