Contributor(s): Steven Heydemann | As the Syrian conflict nears its fourth anniversary, it poses a growing threat to the stability of the state order in the Levant and Arab East. Violence has spilled across all of Syria’s borders, fuelled by regional and international involvement on all sides of the conflict. Massive refugee flows and population displacements strain the capacity of every neighbouring state. The rise of ISIS poses a direct challenge to the integrity and legitimacy of existing states: its forces have already erased large areas of the Syrian-Iraqi border. Kurdish aspirations for nationhood now appear more attainable than at any time since the rise of Kurdish national movements. The region has not experienced turmoil on this scale for almost a century. In this lecture, Steven Heydemann argues that the widespread violence now gripping the Levant and Arab East has a logic and structure that can shed light on its underlying dynamics, its drivers, and its possible effects. Steven Heydemann serves as the vice president of Applied Research on Conflict at USIP. Heydemann is a political scientist who specializes in the comparative politics and the political economy of the Middle East, with a particular focus on Syria. His interests include authoritarian governance, economic development, social policy, political and economic reform and civil society.