The struggle for power in Syria : politics and society under Asad and the Ba'th Party / Nikolaos van Dam.

Author
Dam, Nikolaos van [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Εdition
New rev. 4th ed.
Published/​Created
London ; New York : I.B. Tauris, 2011.
Description
xiii, 255 pages : map ; 22 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

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Firestone Library - Stacks DS98.2 .D34 2011 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    This is a fully revised and updated paperback edition of Nikolaos van Dam's study of power in Syrian politics. The book explains the factors which have enabled the regime of Hafiz al-Asad to stay in power much longer than any other since independence; it also shows how al-Asad's disappearance may seriously disrupt Syria's present stability. Providing an in-depth analysis of the role of sectarian, regional and tribal loyalties in contemporary Syrian history, the author focuses attention on developments within the military and civilian power elite and the Ba'th Party organization. He shows that the 1963 Ba'thist takeover constituted a decisive turning-point. With the help of the army and the Ba'th, members of Islamic minority communities, especially Alawis, Druzes and Ismailis, and people from the poor countryside, were brought to the fore, and went through a process of rapid national emancipation. In 1970 this culminated in the monopolization of power by al-Asad, whose Alawi-dominated officers' faction has ruled Syria ever since. The text considers the political history of Syria in the 1980s and 1990s and speculates on its future.
    Notes
    ODID.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-243) and index.
    Contents
    • The rise of minorities in the Syrian armed forces and in the Ba'th Party
    • Sectarian polarisation in the Syrian armed forces between Sunnis and religious minorities
    • The purge of Druze officers in the Syrian armed forces
    • The struggle for power within the Alawi community
    • Sectarian and regional factionalism in the Syrian politica elite : a statistical analysis
    • Sectarian provocation and confrontation
    • Sectarian showdown : eradication of the Muslim Brotherhood
    • The power elite under Hafiz al-Asad
    • Conclusions
    • Syrian Ba'thist memoirs
    ISBN
    • 9781848857605 ((pbk.))
    • 1848857608 ((pbk.))
    OCLC
    1084969554
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