syria - ms. stifter's...

Bibliography

Anderson, Matthew S. The Eastern Question. New York: St.Martin’s, 1966.

Fromkin, David. A Peace to End All Peace. New York: HenryHolt, 1989.

Hurewitz, J. C., ed. The Middle East and North Africa in WorldPolitics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1979.

Khalidi, Rashid. British Policy towards Syria and Palestine,1906–1914: A Study of the Antecedents of the Hussein–the [sic]McMahon Correspondence, the Sykes–Picot Agreement, and theBalfour Declaration. London: Ithaca Press, 1980.

ZACHARY KARABELL

SYRIA

Formally, the Syrian Arab Republic (al-Jumhuriyya al-Arabiyya al-Suriyya).

Syria’s 71,500 square miles include a narrow plainalong the Mediterranean between Turkey to thenorth and Lebanon to the south, which contains theports of Latakia and Tartus; fertile highlands be-tween the capital, Damascus, and the border withJordan, called the Hawran (Hauran); an extensivecentral plain, in which are situated the cities ofHoms, Hama, and Aleppo; the Euphrates River val-ley, in which are the cities of al-Raqqa (Rakka) andDayr al-Zawr; an eastern plateau bounded by Turkeyto the north and Iraq to the east, whose major cen-ters are al-Hasaka and al-Qamishli; and a largesoutheastern desert adjacent to Iraq and Jordan,whose oases contain the ruins of ancient fortifica-tions and trading posts.

Syria has three major rivers. The largest, theEuphrates, enters from Turkey and is joined by theKhabur and the Balikh before crossing into Iraqsoutheast of Al Bu Kamal. The Euphrates system isregulated by the Euphrates Dam at Tabaqa, just westof al-Raqqa, which stores water for use in irrigationand power generation. Running south from moun-tains in the pre-1920 Syrian province of Iskenderun(now the Turkish province of Hatay), through thefertile Ghab basin and past the cities of Hama and Homs, is the Orontes river (Nahr al-Asi). TheYarmuk river, across which small irrigation damswere constructed during the 1980s, defines the bor-der between Syria and Jordan. At current rates ofuse, Syria’s groundwater reserves are expected to

run dry by 2010, leaving the country entirely de-pendent on river water.

Population

The total population is estimated to be 17.6 million(2002) with Damascus and Aleppo the major pop-ulation centers. Population growth averaged over 3percent annually for much of the second half of thetwentieth century but then slowed to 2.45 percent(2002). On the other hand, the death rate plungedfrom 21 deaths per 1,000 during the early 1950s to5 per 1,000 in 2002. Several thousand Armeniansmoved to Syria from the Soviet Union in 1945–1946,and founded a sizable community in Aleppo. Afterthe establishment of the state of Israel, virtually allof the Syrian Jewish population emigrated, andabout 100,000 Palestinians fleeing Israel’s takeoverof the Galilee in 1948 ended up in camps on thefringes of Damascus.

Muslims make up 85–90 percent of the popu-lation; approximately 75 percent of this number areSunnis, 13–15 percent are Alawis, about 1 percentare Isma�ilis, and less than 1 percent are TwelverShi�ites. Some 3 percent of Syrians are Druze, a sect

SYRIA

2 1 2 9E n c y c l o p e d i a o f THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

The world-renowned Great Mosque was constructed in the

eighth century, when Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad

dynasty. Most Syrians are Sunnis, with far smaller numbers of

other Muslims as well as a sizable minority of Christians,

primarily Greek Orthodox and Armenian Gregorian. Islamic

fundamentalists are active but not in a position of power; the

socialist Ba��th Party violently suppressed an uprising of the

Muslim Brotherhood in 1982. © CORBIS. REPRODUCED BY

PERMISSION.

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that follows a mixture of Christian and Shi�a doc-trines. Isolated pockets of Yazidis exist in the hillsoutside Aleppo and northeast of al-Qamishli. About10 percent of the population are Christians, dividedamong at least a dozen sects. The Greek Orthodoxand Armenian Gregorian communities are the largestand most influential.

Administration

Syria’s governmental structure is highly centralizedand strictly hierarchical, concentrating power pri-marily in the hands of the president and secondar-ily with the top leadership of the Ba�th party. Thissystem was developed after March 1963, when mil-itary supporters of the Ba�th overthrew the parlia-mentary order that had reappeared following thedissolution of the union with Egypt in 1961. In No-vember 1970, Gen. Hafiz al-Asad, minister of de-fense and head of the Ba�th party’s military wing,

seized power. He served as head of state, comman-der in chief, and secretary-general of the Regional(Syrian) Command of the Ba�th until his death inJune 2000. Shortly after coming to power, the newregime appointed a representative body, the Peo-ple’s Council, to draft a permanent constitution.This document, approved in March 1973, providesfor a seven-year presidential term of office; it em-powers the president to appoint and remove the vicepresidents, the prime minister, and other cabinetministers. In addition, it grants the president theauthority to dissolve the People’s Council and callnational plebiscites to ratify legislative measures notadopted by the parliament. Upon the death of Hafizal-Asad, his second son, Bashshar al-Asad, was electedpresident in July 2000.

Syria consists of thirteen provinces, each ad-ministered by a governor. Each governor is advisedby a provincial council, one-fourth of whose mem-

SYRIA

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bers are appointed and the remainder of whom areelected by popular balloting. Since 1970, thesecouncils have exercised little decision-making au-tonomy. Municipal councils provide public services,license businesses, and supervise the collection oflocal taxes. Each municipal council is headed by amayor. Damascus city constituted a separate gover-norate until 1987, when it merged with the sur-rounding province of Damascus to form a singleadministrative unit.

Economy

Syria’s economy expanded dramatically during the1940s, due to a combination of restrictions on im-ports and heightened spending by British and Frenchoccupation forces. The Korean War perpetuated theboom by creating greater demand for Syrian cottonon world markets. Private enterprise provided themain impetus for economic growth until the unionwith Egypt in 1958, when state officials introducedan extensive program of land reform, nationalizationof industry, and regulation of commercial transac-tions. The short-lived parliamentary regime that se-ceded from the union in 1961 attempted to resurrectthe private sector, but the Ba�th-affiliated officerswho overthrew the civilian regime in March 1963gradually extended government control over mostsectors of the economy. State intervention peakedwith the nationalization of industry, banking, andtrade that began in January 1965. Under the regimeof Salah Jadid (1966–1970), extensive state controlaccompanied the establishment of a network of pro-duction and distribution cooperatives, state farms,and Ba�th-affiliated popular-front organizations.

By the end of the 1960s, Syria’s public-sectorenterprises were experiencing severe financial dif-ficulties. The government responded by relaxing restrictions on the activities of private business,particularly in construction and trade. Private en-terprise quickly moved into agriculture and manu-facturing as well, supported both by the return oflarge amounts of local capital that had fled the coun-try during the late 1950s and by an influx of in-vestment from the oil-producing Arab Gulf states.Government spending jumped from around 29 per-cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1972 tosome 37 percent of GDP in 1987. This rise was notmatched by an increase in current revenues, result-ing in large budget deficits. The shortfalls resulted

primarily from sharp increases in military spend-ing; by 1987, support for the armed forces ac-counted for 39 percent of total state outlays. Withan imbalance of this magnitude sustainable onlythrough heavy reliance on the Communist bloc andArab oil states, the implosion of the Soviet Unionduring the early 1990s forced the Syrian govern-ment to take austerity measures.

The economy grew at a rate of more than 9 per-cent per year during the 1970s, slowed to around2.2 percent during the 1980s, rebounded to morethan 5 percent during the 1990s, and continued togrow at an annual rate of 2.5 to 3.5 percent duringthe early years of the twenty-first century. Incomeper capita was approximately $1,000 (2002). Withthe growth in population approximating 2.5 per-cent, the World Bank has estimated that Syria wouldneed real economic growth of more than 5 percentto improve the welfare of its people. Major distor-tions contribute to the overall weak performance ofthe Syrian economy, including multiple exchangerate and exchange controls, restrictions on privatesector activity, price controls, major agriculturalsubsidies, an inefficient state-owned financial sys-tem, and the dominance of state-owned enterprises.

The Syrian government implemented limitedeconomic reforms after 2000, permitting Syriansto hold foreign currency and licensing the first pub-lic banks, an essential step in modernizing the state-dominated economy. However, the far-reachingeconomic reforms required to modernize the econ-omy were put on hold for fear that widespread eco-nomic change could lead to calls for concomitantpolitical reform and democratization. As a result,sweeping economic reform remains the number onepriority in the Syrian domestic agenda.

Education

Since 1967, Syria’s schools, technical institutes, anduniversities have been supervised by the Ministry ofEducation or the Ministry of Higher Education.Successive Ba�th regimes have expanded the educa-tion system, and have taken steps to reduce illiter-acy by establishing adult and women’s educationprograms. Elementary education is free and com-pulsory. Secondary education, which consists ofthree years of preparatory school and three years ofhigh school, is free but not compulsory. The great

SYRIA



majority of children attend public schools; severalprivate schools in Damascus serve foreign nationalsand the elite. The Ministry of Education regulatestextbooks, curricula, and teacher certification.

Syria has four universities. The largest and mostprestigious is Damascus University, founded in1923, which had some 60,000 students by 2002.The University of Aleppo, chartered in 1958, servesaround 30,000 students. Tishrin University inLatakia and al-Ba�th University in Homs offer lim-ited curricula. The University of Aleppo operates afaculty of agriculture in Dayr al-Zawr. Technical in-stitutes are scattered throughout the country. Thelanguage of instruction is Arabic, although Englishand French are required as second languages bymany faculties.

History

Syria’s modern history began with the end of theEgyptian occupation (1831–1840). After the re-assertion of Ottoman control, European manufac-tured goods flooded the country, ruining the textileindustry and leading urban merchants to invest inagricultural land. The trend toward private estateownership was reinforced by the Ottoman land lawof 1858, which allowed landholders to convert nom-inally state-owned communal lands in the villagesinto private property. At the end of the nineteenthcentury, French enterprises won numerous conces-sions in exchange for loans to the Ottoman author-ities. French firms invested in ports, railroads, andhighways, opening the cities of the interior to theoutside world. As manufacturing continued to con-tract, to the evident benefit of Syria’s well-connectedminority communities, anti-Christian and anti-European riots, like the 1860 massacres in Damas-cus, erupted. These drew European governmentsinto local politics, and growing outside interferencegenerated rising disaffection with Ottoman author-ity among Syria’s Arab elite.

During the 1890s, clubs advocating Syrian inde-pendence formed in Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut.These coalesced into political parties after the 1908revolution that brought the Committee of Unionand Progress (CUP) to power in Constantinople(now Istanbul). Members of an underground CUPbranch in Damascus led popular demonstrations insupport of the coup, prompting prominent reli-

gious notables to form an organization of their own,the Muslim Union. Candidates sympathetic to thelatter won the parliamentary elections of 1909. Lib-eral opponents of the CUP openly denounced theregime in Constantinople, setting the stage for newelections in 1912, which were rigged to ensure thatonly CUP supporters won seats in parliament.

Following the balloting, influential Syrian lib-erals emigrated to Cairo, where they formed theOttoman Party of Administrative Decentralizationto seek greater autonomy for the empire’s Arabic-speaking provinces. The publication of its pro-gram accompanied widespread anti-CUP agitationorchestrated by secret societies including the Constantinople-based Qahtan society, the Paris-based Young Arab Society (al-Fatat), and the Iraq-and Syria-based Society of the Covenant (Jam�iyyatal-Ahd). The seeds of Arab nationalism germi-nated among these societies prior to World War I.

Nationalist sentiment blossomed during thewar, and when Faisal I ibn Hussein of the Hijaz ledan Arab army into Damascus in October 1918, hewas welcomed as a liberator and Damascus declareditself an autonomous Arab administration for thewhole of greater Syria. Faisal attempted to consol-idate popular support by calling elections in mid-1919, but CUP sympathizers won most of the seatsrepresenting Damascus. Members of the Young ArabSociety dominated the rest of the assembly, and inthe fall of 1919 this organization formed the Com-mittee of National Defense to resist Faisal’s allegedwillingness to capitulate to French demands. Faisalresponded by forming the National Party, whoseplatform called for the establishment of a constitu-tional monarchy with French assistance. The as-sembly, led by Hashim al-Atasi of Homs, acclaimedFaisal king of an independent Syria. His acquies-cence in the declaration led France to occupy Dam-ascus in 1920, establishing a tutelary regime thatgoverned the country for the next quarter-century.

After independence in 1946, the armed forcesbecame a major means of advancement for Syria’sminority communities, particularly poorer Alawisand Druze, who entered the military academy inrapidly growing numbers. There they encounteredradical political ideas, including those of the Ba�thand the local communist party. Rising disaffectionwithin the ranks prompted the military high com-

SYRIA



mand to champion social reform programs and sol-idarity with nationalists in neighboring Arab states.Popular and parliamentary discontent over Syria’sdefeat in Palestine persisted through the winter of1948–1949, and in March 1949 a clique of com-manders led by Col. Husni al-Za�im overthrew theelected government. Za�im abrogated the 1930 con-stitution, suppressed all political parties, and ruledby decree. That June he was assassinated by rival officers, who restored civilian rule and called forelections to a popular assembly to frame a new con-stitution. The assembly fragmented along regionallines, and in December a group of junior officersled by Col. Adib Shishakli seized power. Shishakli’sregime adopted a revised constitution in 1950 butsoon resorted to severe tactics to control the resur-gent labor unions and peasant movement, and wasousted in 1954.

The new military-civilian coalition restored the1950 constitution and held parliamentary elections,

in which the Arab Ba�th Socialist party won a sub-stantial number of seats. Leftist forces were unableto form a coalition cabinet, and the liberal People’sparty took over the government. This developmentsparked renewed militancy among workers andpeasants, convincing the cabinet to implementwide-ranging agricultural and industrial reforms.Startled by the reforms, as well as by demands forgreater change from the Ba�th and the communists,conservatives in parliament mobilized support forformer President Shukri al-Quwatli, who won thepresidency in 1955. By 1957 escalating tensionsamong pro–United States, pro-Egypt, and Syriannationalist politicians led to a postponement of local elections while military intelligence officersuncovered an elaborate plot by agents of Iraq to un-dermine the government. These developments sentChief of Staff Afif al-Bizri to Cairo to request im-mediate union with Egypt. In 1958 PresidentQuwatli announced the creation of the United ArabRepublic.

SYRIA


Markets remain a focus of life in Syria. Agriculture, like construction, trade, and manufacturing, has benefited from an influx of

private capital since the 1960s. © CORY LANGLEY. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.


Efforts to unify the two countries eventuallyprovoked widespread unrest in Syria. When the cab-inet nationalized and redistributed the assets of pri-vate enterprises during the summer of 1961, largelyin response to problems in Egypt, merchants andtradespeople in Syria’s cities agitated for dissolutionof the union. A group of military officers and civil-ian politicians orchestrated secession that Septem-ber. Over the next two years, Syria’s politicsconsisted of jockeying among socialists, who favoredcontinued state control over key sectors of the econ-omy; large landholders and rich merchants, who ad-vocated the restoration of private property andparliamentary rule; and moderates, including a wingof the Ba�th party led by Michel Aflaq, who sup-ported maintaining a mixed economy. In 1962, acompromise government supported by the militaryhigh command took steps to dismantle the publicsector and remove doctrinaire socialists from the

armed forces, moves that precipitated both resis-tance among Ba�th and communist officers andgrowing Islamist opposition. Spurred by threats tothe position of radicals within the military and byburgeoning popular unrest, members of the mili-tary committee of the Ba�th carried out a coup in1963, ushering in a period of Ba�th party–militaryrule.

Gen. Hafiz al-Asad, who played a major role inthe 1963 coup, was promoted to commander of theair force in 1964, serving also as a senior leader inthe Ba�thist military command. Mastering the sur-vival techniques necessary in the factional politicsplaguing Syria, he seized control of the governmentin November 1970, dismissing or purging oppo-nents and initiating three decades of rule. Charac-terized by internal political stability and continuity,the Asad regime ushered in a new chapter in both

SYRIA


Downtown Damascus shows clear signs of Syria’s efforts since the 1980s to modernize its economy, with some additional reforms taking

effect after 2000. Many sectors of the economy, however, have long been run by the state; the country has been firmly under the

centralized, hierarchical control of the Ba��th party, with the backing of the military, since 1963. © AP/WIDEWORLD PHOTOS.

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.


domestic and foreign policies. On the domesticfront, it stressed the need for reconciliation andnational unity, built stable state institutions, andcourted disenchanted social classes with measuresof economic and political liberalization. At thesame time, it tolerated no opposition, attacking theMuslim Brotherhood and viciously suppressing anuprising in Hama in February 1982. In addition tothe army, the institutional pillars of the regimewere a multilayered intelligence network, formalstate structures, and revitalized Ba�th party con-gresses.

In foreign policy, the Asad regime succeededin transforming Syria into a regional middle powerout of all proportion to its size, population, andeconomic resources. The regime began by movingquickly to end Syrian isolation in the Arab world,focusing on Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Ac-cepting UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and338, it agreed to a May 1974 disengagement agree-ment with Israel in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israel War, but then worked to kill the 1983 Israel-Lebanon accord. Syrian military power expandedsteadily in this period; by 1986, it had a very largemilitary force for a state of its size. Personal ani-mosity, together with geopolitical rivalry and aBa�th party schism, separated Asad’s Syria fromSaddam Hussein’s Iraq. Syria sided with Iran dur-ing the Iran-Iraq War and adhered to the Western-led anti-Iraq coalition during the Gulf War. A newentente with Egypt, and Syria’s subsequent in-volvement in the U.S.–sponsored Middle Eastpeace process that started with the Madrid Confer-ence in October 1991, led the Syrian governmentfor the first time into face-to-face negotiations withIsrael. Stalled in 1996, talks with Israel againfoundered in 1999. However, the positions of thetwo protagonists were closer than ever before, anda future agreement seemed possible.

President Hafiz al-Asad died of natural causeson 10 June 2000 and was replaced by his son,Bashshar al-Asad, on 17 July 2000. Dual themes ofcontinuity and change characterized the early poli-cies of the new regime. Bashshar al-Asad cautiouslypromoted limited socioeconomic change to stimu-late the economy and generate popular support, butdelayed broader economic reforms out of fear theywould cause political destabilization. In foreign af-fairs, he maintained his father’s commitment to a

just and lasting Middle East peace in which Syriawould regain all occupied lands. However, the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, the U.S. occupation ofIraq, and Syria’s uncertain place in the war on ter-rorism combined to limit Bashshar al-Asad’s scopefor regional and international initiatives.

See also Aflaq, Michel; Asad, Bashshar al-;Asad, Hafiz al-; Ba�th; Damascus; Hama;Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988); Jadid, Salah;Muslim Brotherhood.

Bibliography

Batatu, Hanna. Syria’s Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser RuralNotables, and Their Politics. Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1999.

Deeb, Marius. Syria’s Terrorist War on Lebanon and the PeaceProcess. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Hinnebusch, Raymond A. Authoritarian Power and State For-mation in Ba�thist Syria: Army, Party, and Peasant. Boulder,CO: Westview Press, 1990.

Hinnebusch, Raymond A. Syria: Revolution from Above. Lon-don: Taylor & Francis, 2002.

Khoury, Philip S. Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics ofArab Nationalism, 1920–1945. Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1987.

Kienle, Eberhard, ed. Contemporary Syria: Liberalization be-tween Cold War and Cold Peace. London: British Acade-mic Press, 1994.

Longrigg, Stephen Hemsley. Syria and Lebanon under theFrench Mandate. New York; London: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 1958.

Perthes, Volker. The Political Economy of Syria under Asad. NewYork; London: I. B. Tauris, 1995.

Pipes, Daniel. Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition. NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Seale, Patrick. Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East. Berkeley:University of California Press, 1995.

Seale, Patrick. The Struggle for Syria: A Study of Post-War ArabPolitics, 1945–1958. New York; London: Oxford Uni-versity Press, 1965.

Van Dam, Nikolaos. The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics andSociety under Asad and the Ba�th Party. New York; London:I. B. Tauris, 1996.

Wedeen, Lisa. Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, andSymbols in Contemporary Syria. Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1999.

FRED H. LAWSON

UPDATED BY RONALD BRUCE ST JOHN

SYRIA



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