Syria’s Druze power structures: How foreign backing enables intra-community authoritarianism

The Druze community’s governance structure in Syria has roots in the Ottoman era, where decentralized leadership allowed for autonomy under imperial rule. However, the modern iteration of this system was shaped by the French Mandate and later by Hafez al-Assad’s regime, which co-opted Druze elites to secure their loyalty against Sunni majorities. The current sheikh’s authority is a direct descendant of this history, where external patrons—first France, later Israel and the US—have systematically enabled sectarian power brokers to maintain control. This pattern is not unique to the Druze; it mirrors the rise of the Alawite elite in Syria or the Maronite dominance in Lebanon, all of which were facilitated by colonial and post-colonial powers.