In the midst of turmoil in the Middle East, and in the face of protests and demonstrations from Homs to Damascus and other places all over Syria, the Ba'th Party and Bashar al-Asad are truly caught up in a struggle to hold onto power in Syria. In this important book, Nikolaos van Dam explores and explains how the Asad dynasty has come to rule Syria for about half a century and keep the complex patchwork of minorities, factions and opponents securely under control for such an unprecedented long period. Through an in-depth examination of the role of sectarian, regional and tribal loyalties, van Dam traces developments within the Ba'th party and the military and civilian power elite from the 1963 Ba'thist takeover up to the present day. 'The most informative explanation of the effects of sectarianism and regionalism on Syrian politics' - Philip S. Khoury, MERIP Reports; '[An] excellent study of the sectarian bases of Syrian politics' - Foreign Affairs; 'Only a handful of important books have been written on modern Syria; and Nikolaos van Dam's The Struggle for Power in Syria is one of them' - Joshua Landis, International Journal of Middle East Studies
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.25
Trade in The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society Under Asad and the Ba'th Party for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
'[A] monumental work on Syrian power politics' --Robert Fisk, The Independent
'An excellent book' --Patrick Seale
'An admirable study… invaluable for anyone with a serious interest in Middle Eastern politics' --Peter Mansfield
'An excellent book' --Patrick Seale
'An admirable study… invaluable for anyone with a serious interest in Middle Eastern politics' --Peter Mansfield
About the Author
Nikolaos van Dam is a specialist on Syria and has served as Ambassador of the Netherlands to Indonesia, Germany, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By conjunction
Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is quite short, which is just as well because it is written in a style which seems pedantic, making me think the author was steeped in Syrian politics to a degree that he did not wish or perhaps even feel in his heart to cause any offence to any parties. He works hard not to take sides.
Short it may be, but the author has read extensively documentation in several languages including many lengthy sets of memoirs in Arabic. The final chapter summarizes his views of some of these memoirs, and is well worth reading.
This book focuses mainly on the rise to power of Hafiz al Asad (Assad senior) and suggests that through the sixties and seventies the power of the Assad dynasty (my word not his) was established at times with great brutality, but Van Dam seems to come to the same conclusion reached by Patrick Seale in his excellent biography of Assad, that if Assad wanted to stay in power he had no choice.
The tale of this book is the rivalry between tribal and religious groups, most especially the Sunni majority and Alawi, Druze and Christian minorities.
Interestingly, when the French were in power in the first half of the twentieth century the Sunni elite disdained military careers, they did not want to be French lackeys. Others, like the Alawis from Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast north of Lebanon, were relatively uneducated and from rural areas, and had no choice. So when the French left their military strength was an advantage, and eventually they formed a ruling elite.
What Van Dam says, however, was that sectarian politics was to some extent forced on them because the different sociological, religious and tribal groups had different interests, that was just the way it went.
This book says very little, except in passing about Syria's relations with Israel, Egypt, the US. If you want to know about all that read Seale's book first.
Short it may be, but the author has read extensively documentation in several languages including many lengthy sets of memoirs in Arabic. The final chapter summarizes his views of some of these memoirs, and is well worth reading.
This book focuses mainly on the rise to power of Hafiz al Asad (Assad senior) and suggests that through the sixties and seventies the power of the Assad dynasty (my word not his) was established at times with great brutality, but Van Dam seems to come to the same conclusion reached by Patrick Seale in his excellent biography of Assad, that if Assad wanted to stay in power he had no choice.
The tale of this book is the rivalry between tribal and religious groups, most especially the Sunni majority and Alawi, Druze and Christian minorities.
Interestingly, when the French were in power in the first half of the twentieth century the Sunni elite disdained military careers, they did not want to be French lackeys. Others, like the Alawis from Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast north of Lebanon, were relatively uneducated and from rural areas, and had no choice. So when the French left their military strength was an advantage, and eventually they formed a ruling elite.
What Van Dam says, however, was that sectarian politics was to some extent forced on them because the different sociological, religious and tribal groups had different interests, that was just the way it went.
This book says very little, except in passing about Syria's relations with Israel, Egypt, the US. If you want to know about all that read Seale's book first.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
a very good book to understand the era that made syria during the 60s, until the start of the 70s. This era made Assad Family in Power until today.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Internal Syrian Politics in the Time of Assad Senior
6 April 2012
By conjunction
- Published on Amazon.com
This book is quite short, which is just as well because it is written in a style which seems pedantic, making me think the author was steeped in Syrian politics to a degree that he did not wish or perhaps even feel in his heart to cause any offence to any parties. He works hard not to take sides.
Short it may be, but the author has read extensively documentation in several languages including many lengthy sets of memoirs in Arabic. The final chapter summarizes his views of some of these memoirs, and is well worth reading.
This book focuses mainly on the rise to power of Hafiz al Asad (Assad senior) and suggests that through the sixties and seventies the power of the Assad dynasty (my word not his) was established at times with great brutality, but Van Dam seems to come to the same conclusion reached by Patrick Seale in his excellent biography of Assad, that if Assad wanted to stay in power he had no choice.
The tale of this book is the rivalry between tribal and religious groups, most especially the Sunni majority and Alawi, Druze and Christian minorities.
Interestingly, when the French were in power in the first half of the twentieth century the Sunni elite disdained military careers, they did not want to be French lackeys. Others, like the Alawis from Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast north of Lebanon, were relatively uneducated and from rural areas, and had no choice. So when the French left their military strength was an advantage, and eventually they formed a ruling elite.
What Van Dam says, however, was that sectarian politics was to some extent forced on them because the different sociological, religious and tribal groups had different interests, that was just the way it went.
This book says very little, except in passing about Syria's relations with Israel, Egypt, the US. If you want to know about all that read Seale's book first.
Short it may be, but the author has read extensively documentation in several languages including many lengthy sets of memoirs in Arabic. The final chapter summarizes his views of some of these memoirs, and is well worth reading.
This book focuses mainly on the rise to power of Hafiz al Asad (Assad senior) and suggests that through the sixties and seventies the power of the Assad dynasty (my word not his) was established at times with great brutality, but Van Dam seems to come to the same conclusion reached by Patrick Seale in his excellent biography of Assad, that if Assad wanted to stay in power he had no choice.
The tale of this book is the rivalry between tribal and religious groups, most especially the Sunni majority and Alawi, Druze and Christian minorities.
Interestingly, when the French were in power in the first half of the twentieth century the Sunni elite disdained military careers, they did not want to be French lackeys. Others, like the Alawis from Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast north of Lebanon, were relatively uneducated and from rural areas, and had no choice. So when the French left their military strength was an advantage, and eventually they formed a ruling elite.
What Van Dam says, however, was that sectarian politics was to some extent forced on them because the different sociological, religious and tribal groups had different interests, that was just the way it went.
This book says very little, except in passing about Syria's relations with Israel, Egypt, the US. If you want to know about all that read Seale's book first.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Syria history
6 Jan 2012
By Robert J Nechal
- Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase
Somewhat difficult to read because of the unfamiliar names, the book is worth reading because it provides the reader the background and political history of how Syria came to be the country that it is today. Am able to understand how and why the nonviolent struggle exists today as well as the disparity throughout the country.
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent book
26 Oct 2012
By Gerta
- Published on Amazon.com
very detailed , almost a short book. well explained with many information to understand the syrian politics. To buy of course the last edition.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
