Title: Asad's legacy : Syria in transition /
Authors: Ziser, Eyal.
Publisher: C. Hurst,
Year: 2001
Subjects: Syria Politics and government; Syria Foreign relations; Syria Politics and government
Abstract: "For thirty years Hafiz al-Asad was the undisputed ruler of Syria. American presidents and Israeli prime ministers came and went but Asad remained, one of the last of the old generations of Arab leaders. Now his son Bashir is faced with an array of difficult choices in the post-Cold War Middle East. Will he allow greater civil liberties and economic liberalization, or will he permit capitalist reform but with strong, centralized one-party control? Will he make peace with Israel, and if so how quickly and at what price? Will he cement Syria's growing relationship with the United States or return to the antagonisms of the past?"
Contents: Machine generated contents note: Introduction: From "The Struggle for Syria" to "The -- Struggle for the Middle East" -- The roots of the Syrian state -- Syria underAsad, 1970-85 -- -- Thefirstsixyears, 1970-76 -- -The strugglefor survival, 1976-83 -- -Recovery, 1983-85 -- Part I -- SYRIA UNDER ASAD -- REGIME AND STATE -- 1. Asad's Regime -- Three Orbits: 'Alawi, Syrian and Arab -- The 'Alawi orbit -- The Syrian orbit -- The Arab orbit -- 2. The System of Government in Asad's Syria -- The formal apparatus of government -- The informal ruling apparatus -- The Syrian elite -- Part II -- A NEW PATH -- 3. The Friendship that Failed- Syriain the Shadowofthe -- Soviet Collapse -- The rise andfall ofMikhail Gorbachev -- Disappearance of the Soviet bulwark -- Fears about the United States -- SovietJewish immigration to Israel -- 4. Start of the New Path -- Syria during the Gulf Crisis -- Syria on the eve of the Gulf crisis -- in the shadow of -- rivalry with Iraq --^