Download or read book The State and the Political Economy of Reform in Syria written by Raymond A. Hinnebusch and published by Centre for Syrian Studies. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the development of Syria's political economy under the Ba'th, particularly the role of the state in facilitating or obstructing economic development. Raymond Hinnebusch provides a brief overview of the literature and debates on the issue. His examination of Syria's political economy under populism (1963-2000) is followed by Soren Schmidt's analysis of the post-populist period since 2000.
Download or read book Syria from Reform to Revolt written by Raymond Hinnebusch and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-02 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Bashar al-Asad smoothly assumed power in July 2000, just seven days after the death of his father, observers were divided on what this would mean for the country’s foreign and domestic politics. On the one hand, it seemed everything would stay the same: an Asad on top of a political system controlled by secret services and Baathist one-party rule. On the other hand, it looked like everything would be different: a young president with exposure to Western education who, in his inaugural speech, emphasized his determination to modernize Syria. This volume explores the ways in which Asad’s domestic and foreign policy strategies during his first decade in power safeguarded his rule and adapted Syria to the age of globalization. The volume’s contributors examine multiple aspects of Asad’s rule in the 2000s, from power consolidation within the party and control of the opposition to economic reform, co-opting new private charities, and coping with Iraqi refugees. The Syrian regime temporarily succeeded in reproducing its power and legitimacy, in reconstructing its social base, and in managing regional and international challenges. At the same time, contributors clearly detail the shortcomings, inconsistencies, and risks these policies entailed, illustrating why Syria’s tenuous stability came to an abrupt end during the Arab Spring of 2011. This volume presents the work of an international group of scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Based on extensive fieldwork and on intimate knowledge of a country whose dynamics often seem complicated and obscure to outside observers, these scholars’ insightful snapshots of Bashar al-Asad’s decade of authoritarian upgrading provide an indispensable resource for understanding the current crisis and its disastrous consequences.
Download or read book The Political Economy of Syria Under Asad written by Volker Perthes and published by I. B. Tauris. This book was released on 1995 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Syria under Asad has been one of the key regional powers of the Middle East. Though its political development has been a much-debated subject, there has been no comprehensive study in English of the country's political economy and its evolution since 1970 to the present day. Beginning with an account of economic development and of changing development strategies, Perthes discusses the factors which in the late 1980s precipitated a change in direction from the socialist orientation of the earlier Ba'thist years to ""infitah"" and a larger role for the private sector. He pays particular attention to class structure and class-state relations and examines the nature of the state, the political structure and the mechanisms and dynamics of political decision-making. Addressing the issue of the interplay between economic transformation and political change, Perthes argues that, although a shift in the power structure will not occur under Asad, his regime has created the institutions which will allow a reasonably smooth succession and a creation of a less personalized and more participatory political order.
Download or read book Syria After the Uprisings written by Joseph Daher and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2020-02-22 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Syria has been at the center of world news since 2011, following the beginnings of a popular uprising in the country and its subsequent violent and murderous repression by the Assad regime. Eight years on, Joseph Daher analyzes the resilience of the regime and the failings of the uprising, while also taking a closer look at the counter revolutionary processes that have been undermining the uprising from without and within. Joseph Daher is the author of Hezbollah: The Political Economy of the Party of God, and founder of the blog Syria Freedom Forever.
Download or read book Business Networks in Syria written by Bassam S. A. Haddad and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2011-12-07 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collusion between business communities and the state can lead to a measure of security for those in power, but this kind of interaction often limits new development. In Syria, state-business involvement through informal networks has contributed to an erratic economy. With unique access to private businessmen and select state officials during a critical period of transition, this book examines Syria's political economy from 1970 to 2005 to explain the nation's pattern of state intervention and prolonged economic stagnation. As state income from oil sales and aid declined, collusion was a bid for political security by an embattled regime. To achieve a modicum of economic growth, the Syrian regime would develop ties with select members of the business community, reserving the right to reverse their inclusion in the future. Haddad ultimately reveals that this practice paved the way for forms of economic agency that maintained the security of the regime but diminished the development potential of the state and the private sector.
Download or read book The Political Economy of Investment in Syria written by Linda Matar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-02-26 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Linda Matar examines Syria's failure to promote employment-generating investment prior to the uprising. Tackling the thorny issue of the inapplicability of modern investment theory to a developing country, she situates the analysis of investment in Syria in its historical context and examines the socioeconomic structure and political preconditions that set the course of capital accumulation. Matar argues that the class in charge of development, which oversaw the allocation of resources during the Hafiz and Bashar Assad regimes, precipitated a crisis of capital accumulation. Difficult-to-access data and information compiled from fieldwork reveal how neoliberal reforms failed to build productive capacity and instead enriched a few through short-term speculative and mercantile ventures. Productive investment in Syria prior to the uprising lurched downward, and the key related socio-economic variables followed. These deteriorating conditions contributed to the social explosion in 2011. Exploring the poor quality and quantity of investment, this study probes how the cant of the free market served as a veneer behind which the institutional decisions distorted income distribution in a way that would inevitably lead to collapse.
Download or read book Business Networks in Syria written by Bassam Haddad and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collusion between business communities and the state can lead to a measure of security for those in power, but this kind of interaction often limits new development. In Syria, state-business involvement through informal networks has contributed to an erratic economy. With unique access to private businessmen and select state officials during a critical period of transition, this book examines Syria's political economy from 1970 to 2005 to explain the nation's pattern of state intervention and prolonged economic stagnation. As state income from oil sales and aid declined, collusion was a bid for political security by an embattled regime. To achieve a modicum of economic growth, the Syrian regime would develop ties with select members of the business community, reserving the right to reverse their inclusion in the future. Haddad ultimately reveals that this practice paved the way for forms of economic agency that maintained the security of the regime but diminished the development potential of the state and the private sector.
Download or read book An Elusive Hope written by Amer Nizar Ghrawi and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-08-10 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The series Studies on Modern Orient provides an overview of religious, political and social phenomena in modern and contemporary Muslim societies. The volumes do not only take into account Near and Middle Eastern countries, but also explore Islam and Muslim culture in other regions of the world, for example, in Europe and the US. The series Studies on Modern Orient was founded in 2010 by Klaus Schwarz Verlag.
Download or read book Networks of Privilege in the Middle East The Politics of Economic Reform Revisited written by S. Heydemann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-08-20 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the role of informal networks in the politics of Middle Eastern economic reform. The editor's introduction demonstrates how network-based models overcome limitations in existing approaches to the politics of economic reform. The following chapters show how business-state networks in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan have affected privatization programs and the reform of fiscal policies. They help us understand patterns and variation in the organization and outcome of economic reform programs, including the opportunities that economic reforms offered for reorganizing networks of economic privilege across the Middle East.
Download or read book Economic Liberalization in Syria written by Dana Andrew Nelson and published by . This book was released on 1998-06-01 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1985 to 1991, Syria experienced a severe economic crisis. In response, the regime of Hafiz al-Asad implemented economic reforms designed to move the Syrian economy toward free-market capitalism. As seen in authoritarian regimes around the world during the past thirty years, political liberalization often accompanies economic reform. Yet, scholars and policymakers have typically viewed Syrian economic reform as politically unimportant: mere tactical maneuvers that strengthened the Asad regime by restoring economic growth. This thesis reevaluates the political importance of the reforms from a political economy perspective. Two surprising conclusions are reached: (1) the political legacy of the economic reforms has so weakened the Asad regime that prospects for political stability within Syria are poor; and (2) transition to democracy, or political liberalization, is the probable outcome of the coming instability. The ramifications of these conclusions are twofold. First, they serve as a warning to U.S. policymakers, suggesting that regional stability will remain elusive until the root causes of regional economic underperformance are addressed. Additionally, by explaining the political outcome of the 1985 Syrian economic crisis with a political economy model, this thesis undermines the notion of cultural exceptionalism as it is commonly applied to the Middle East.
Download or read book The Political Economy of Reform Lessons from Pensions Product Markets and Labour Markets in Ten OECD Countries written by Tompson William and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2009-08-24 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By looking at 20 reform efforts in ten OECD countries, this report examines why some reforms are implemented and other languish.
Download or read book Post Conflict Syrian State and Nation Building written by C. Çakmak and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-06-11 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on extensive field work involving the leading figures of the diverse Syrian National Coalition, an umbrella initiative of opposition groups fighting against the Assad regime, this study critically evaluates the challenges ahead as well as the inherent opportunities for the post-conflict era in Syria.
Download or read book Syria on the Path to Economic Reform written by Samir Seifan and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an overview and assessment of the first five years of President Bashar al-Assad's program for economic reform. This book also examines the forces for - and obstacles to - reform in Syria and outlines how the regime's goal of transition to a 'social market economy' might best be achieved.
Download or read book Syria written by Raymond Hinnebusch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the development of the Syrian state as it has emerged under thirty-five years of military-Ba'thist rule and, particularly, under President Hafiz al-Asad. It analyzes the way in which the fragility of the post-independence state, unable to contain rising nationalist struggle and class conflict, opened the way to the Ba'th party's rise to power and examines how the Ba'th's 'revolution from above' transformed Syria's socio-political terrain.
Download or read book Syria from Reform to Revolt written by Leif Stenberg and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Syria’s anti-authoritarian uprising and subsequent civil war have left the country in ruins, the need for understanding the nation’s complex political and cultural realities remains urgent. The second of a two-volume series, Syria from Reform to Revolt: Culture, Society, and Religion draws together closely observed, critical and historicized analyses, giving vital insights into Syrian society today. With a broad range of disciplinary perspectives, contributors reveal how Bashar al-Asad’s pivotal first decade of rule engendered changes in power relations and public discourse—dynamics that would feed the 2011 protest movement and civil war. Essays focus on key arenas of Syrian social life, including television drama, political fiction, Islamic foundations, and Christian choirs and charities, demonstrating the ways in which Syrians worked with and through the state in attempts to reform, undermine, or sidestep the regime. The contributors explore the paradoxical cultural politics of hope, anticipation, and betrayal that have animated life in Syria under Asad, revealing the fractures that obstruct peaceful transformation. Syria from Reform to Revolt provides a powerful assessment of the conditions that turned Syria’s hopeful Arab spring revolution into a catastrophic civil war that has cost over 200,000 lives and generated the worst humanitarian crisis of the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Democratic Transitions in the Arab World written by Ibrahim Elbadawi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-05 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cross-country examination of authoritarianism and democracy in North Africa and the Middle East.
Download or read book Pan Turkism written by Jacob M. Landau and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Landau's book is important in several respects... it provides exhaustive information on almost every pan-Turk publication and all of its authors and publicists. Landau appears to have consulted every conceivable source, including archives and collections... In addition, the book is useful to students of pan-nationalism and nationalism, for Landau also expertly places all his information into a larger theoretical context. This contribution to the literature is invaluable. -- Journal of Developing Areas... a most worthwhile work, ... It... deserves to be in all library collections on the Middle East. -- Perspectives on Political ScienceLandau has provided an up-to-date compendium of facts concerning the history of these nationalist ideas and movements. Students of nationalism in general and the politics of post-Soviet Central Asia and the Turkish Republic in particular will remain greatly indebted to [Landau] for some considerable time. -- American Political Science ReviewAn examination of relations between Turks in Turkey and their kin abroad -- in Cyprus, the Balkans, and especially in the six ex-Soviet Muslim republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia. This book delineates the special relationship between the new republics and Turkey, which has altered the essence of Pan-Turkism from militant irredentism to practical solidarity in matters political, economic, and cultural.
