Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations and Democracy in the Modern Middle East

by Radwan Ziadeh

Overview

As Bashar al-Asad rescinds emergency rule in the face of demonstrations and protests, Syria finds itself in a key position in a Middle East beset by regional tensions, the repercussions of the global 'war on terror' and popular uprisings. The bloodless coup by General Hafez al-Assad, in 1970, put in place a powerful autocratic machinery at the core of the state which continues till today under the control of his son Bashar. Here Radwan Ziadeh presents a fresh and penetrating analysis of Syria's political structure - a 'despotic' state monopoly, a bureaucratic climate marked by fear, and the administrative structure through which centralized control is exercised. With a focus on Syria's intelligence services which have significant influence in legal and policy decisions, and the conditions and patterns of foreign policy decision-making, particularly vis-a-vis the US, 'Power and Policy in Syria' is essential reading for all those interested in Syria, the modern Middle East, International Relations and Security Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857737694
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/20/2012
Series:	Library of Modern Middle East Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Radwan Ziadeh is a Visiting Scholar at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania and was formerly with the Carr Centre for Human Rights at Harvard University. He is the founding director of the Syrian Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Washington D.C and has been a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. He is the recipient of the MESA Academic Freedom Award (2009

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Birth of the Third Republic and Establishing Syrian Authoritarianism
2. Inheriting Syria from Father to Son: Hafez al-Asad's Last Days
3. Damascus Spring: The Rise of the Opposition in Syria
4. Bashar al-Asad and Foreign Policy
5. The Challenge of Political Islam: Muslim Brotherhood and Democracy
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Radwan Ziadeh brings unique qualifications to this superb study of contemporary Syrian politics. As a scholar-activist, he captures the internal workings of Syria’s reform movements with nuance, detail and insight that are unmatched, bringing to life political currents and trends in Syria that are often opaque to outsiders. This is an important work. It deserves to be widely read." — Steven Heydemann, Vice President of the United States Institute of Peace, and author of Authoritarianism in Syria

"This is both an insider’s account of the political awakening in Syria at the beginning of this century; and a sober, intelligent analysis of political structures and developments under Bashar al-Assad’s rule." — Volker Perthes, Director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and author of The Political Economy of Syria under Assad

From the Publisher