Construction, Intervention and Lifelihood: Syrian Bedouin and the 'Development' of the Steppe by Government and International Organisations The study bases on the ethnological fieldwork undertaken with a Bedouin group (Haswa/ Bani Khaled) in the Syrian Steppe 2005-2007. The focus lies on three questions: (1) How do different agents (government, international development agencies, mobile pastoralists) construct a space named "the steppe"? (2) How do they use that space respectively how do they intervene into it? (3) What are the options for agency that mobile Pastoralists have, in order to react on the interventions into their life-world?