The United Nations (UN) has estimated that the two and a half year civil war in Syria has caused more than one hundred thousand deaths in the region. The continuing conflict in Syria has led the United Nations to stop updating the death toll in Syria because it has found that information from Syria and the surrounding region is no longer verifiable (UNCHR, 2014). The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNCHR) (2014) noted that 2.4 million Syrians have registered as refugees, but estimates that there are, in fact, many more unregistered Syrian refugees fleeing across the border with Iraq. Globalization and its negative implications for Syria Globalization has had negative implications for the Syrian nation. As cultural norms around the world become more widespread, globalization has led to major changes in the complex worldwide evolution of “systems, ideas, and structures” (Stetter, 2012, p. 7) within the Middle East. First, the influence of Western cultures on Syrian culture has led some to question the more traditional Syrian-Arab-Islamic traditions (Handi, 2008). Second, for many years Syria has been a place of refuge for people from other Middle Eastern countries experiencing conflict. For much of its existence, Syria was primarily an agricultural nation, although it had very limited arable land. Syria has regularly hosted around 350,000 refugees from neighboring Palestine and Iraq. However, between 2006 and 2011, a drought in Syria created disastrous circumstances in which nearly 75 percent of Syrians experienced total failure of their crops and herders in northeastern Syria lost 85 percent of their livestock ( Erian, Katlan & Baban, 2011). . As a result, many Syrian farmers mi...... middle of paper ......ecommended-resources/newsletters/march-2011/psychosocial-support-emergenciesStetter, S. (2012). Middle East and globalization: meetings and horizons. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.UNCHR. (2014a). Syria emergency. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.se/en/support-us/refugee-emergencies/syria-emergency.htmlUNHCR. (2014b). Syria Crisis: Education Interrupted: Global Action to Save the Education of a Generation. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/52aaebff9.htmlUNESCO. (2010). Global education data: Syrian Arab Republic. Paris, France: UNESCO.UNICEF. (2013). Crisis in Syria: education interrupted. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Education_Interrupted_Dec_2013.pdfU.S. Embassy. (2014). Safe spaces help Syrian children cope with stress. Retrieved from http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/inbrief/2014/01/20140107290069.html#axzz2uD2nPGPw