The advent of the New World Order has challenged Syria's role in the Middle East. Traditionally viewed as a pariah state and a Soviet satellite, Syria's future looked uncertain as the balance of world power moved out of Soviet into US control, causing the withdrawal of Soviet support and threatening Syria's quest for regional hegemony. Syria, however, has been able to adapt to the transformation in the world order. Dr Quilliam maintains that Syrian foreign policy has been determined by both domestic politics and international political realities. He begins by defining Syria in terms of its domestic arena: its geography (both physical and political), natural resources, history, population and economy. He then discusses the governing system of the country, detailing the different political parties and how the system actually functions in Syria. Moving to the international political system, the author then expands upon the regional balance of power and Syria's relations with her neighbors. Following a rational policy, the Syrian state was compelled to realign itself with the US-led world order in an attempt to pursue regional hegemony. It was able to do this by joining the US-led coalition forces in the liberation of Kuwait in 1990/91 and was rewarded with a place in the postwar regional order and a central role in the Madrid Peace Conference. Syria and the New World Order is a clear and comprehensive account of Syria's adjustment to the realities of the day.

Since the end of the Cold War and the 1990/91 Gulf war, the Middle East has been in the grip of dramatic changes. The region faces a host of problems urgently in need of solutions if a successful new world order is to be built on the ruins of the old. In this book, an international group of scholars addresses these issues and considers the options for the political and economic reconstruction of the Middle East. Themes covered include: democratization; the Arab state system in the new global environment; the end of Marxism in the Middle East; security structures; the Arab-Israeli conflict; the role of pan-Islamism and pan-Arabism; and the prospects for economic revival. Case-studies are drawn from the whole region, from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.

State expansion caused the reorganization of social conflict, promoting intense polarization between radicals and conservatives, high levels of popular mobilization, and a shift in the preferences of the Ba'th from an accommodationist to a radically populist strategy for consolidating its system of rule."--BOOK JACKET.

The collapse of the Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union marked the end of a painful era in history. As the 20th century draws to a close, mankind is busy establishing a common world in which nations can understand each other more easily than in the Cold War. Peace, democracy, and free market economy are the cornerstones of this new order. However, Syria is still anti-democratic, economically backward and a conflict-prone state. The main thesis of this work is that Syrian political and strategic culture is one of the major obstacles to Syria's transformation into a democratic, peaceful and prosperous country. The most immediate problem faced by Syria is the urgency for liberalization at home and peace in the region. However, President Hafiz al-Asad's personal way of thinking, the Ba'th ideology, and the political system all impede Syria from undergoing necessary structural transformations and concluding the Middle East peace process with a viable peace agreement. This is because liberalization and peace put the survival of Asad's dictatorship at stake. As a result, it is plausible to argue that Syria will not be a partner of the new world order as long as Asad or his clique remains in power.

A unique collaboration providing an analysis of the conflict in Syria, focusing on the integration between legal and political studies.

The suffering of Syrian civilians, caught between the government’s barrel bombs and chemical weapons and religious fanatics’ beheadings and mass killings, shocked the world. Yet despite international law and political commitments proclaiming a responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities, world actors stood aside as Syria burned. Again and again, neighboring states, global powers, and the United Nations opted for half-measures or made counterproductive choices that caused even more harm. Alex J. Bellamy provides a forensic account of the world’s failure to protect Syrian civilians from mass atrocities. Drawing on interviews with key players, documents from the United Nations and other international organizations, and sources from the Middle East and beyond, he traces the missteps of the international response to Syria’s civil war. Bellamy systematically examines the various peace processes and the reasons they failed, highlighting potential alternative paths. He details how and why key actors prioritized their own national interest, geopolitical standing, regional stability, local rivalries, counterterrorism goals, or domestic politics rather than the welfare of Syrians. Some governments settled on unrealistic strategies founded on misguided assumptions while others pursued naked ambition; the United Nations descended into irrelevance and even complicity. Shedding new light on the decisions that led to a vast calamity, Syria Betrayed also draws out lessons for more effective responses to future civil conflicts.

Based on primary sources as well as personal contacts and interviews, this timely book examines the origin, evolution, and the role of the Communist party in Egypt. The picture painted of Egyptian domestic politics, especially of the differences among communist leaders, is a detailed one. The authors examine the developments of communism in Egypt as a dynamic response to a corrupt political system and to deplorable economic and social conditions that beset most Egyptians. The authors stress that the rise of Egyptian communism, although strongly supported by the Soviet government, actually evolved because of these internal problems, which Egyptian communists continue to focus on. The authors shed light on the relevance of communist theory in addressing these conditions. Because, in their opinion, official government documents are factually questionable and purport the official Soviet party line, the authors chose to base their research on other sources, such as interviews with local communists and the records of the Egyptian Communist party. Thus they provide a unique treatment of the subject at hand. They also discuss Soviet policy toward Egypt and the role played by the Soviet Union in the sponsorship of Egyptian communism and the principal Egyptian personalities and organizations involved in the evolution of the Egyptian communist party. This book should be of interest to scholars, students, and researchers of Middle East politics, communist movements, and the ideologies of developing nations.