In no assessment of world powers does Syria make the list. With a population of just 17 million people it ranks 54th among nations; its gross domestic product is around $65 billion and it is estimated that 75 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Syria has aspirations to be a regional power (an ambition facilitated by a formidable military), but Damascus' influence has been limited to territory within its borders and just beyond.
Yet in 2015, Syria played an outsized role in international affairs, demonstrating the so-called "butterfly effect" — that a butterfly flapping its wings in Beijing can cause a storm in New York. The impact of the unrest in Syria has rippled across the planet, roiling political systems half a world away.
The readiness of President Bashar Assad to fight an increasingly bloody civil war has generated predictable consequences. About 6.5 million people have been internally displaced. Some 4.4 million refugees have been forced to flee to other countries — 633,000 in Lebanon, equal to about a quarter of its population, and 1.07 million in Jordan, about 10 percent of its population — swamping facilities, overwhelming international aid organizations and threatening instability in neighboring countries. It has prompted ethnic groups to find common cause without regard to national borders — Kurds in Turkey aid Kurds in Syria — which prompts other groups to respond in kind.