The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society under Asad and the Baath Party.
Nokalaos van Dam
I.B. Taurus 2011
This book, now in its fourth volume, is a thorough and highly informative study of minority groups in the Syrian Arab Republic. The work covers the constitution, history and effects of minority groups on internal politics of the state, with an emphasis on the ruling Alawi group. Author Nikolaos Van Dam has revised this volume to include an account of the rule of Bashar al-Assad; the previous volumes dealt exclusively with the rise of Bashar al-Assad’s late father Hafiz al-Assad following the break-up of the United Arab Republic and the Ba’thist coup in 1963. The core of the book remains the same as previous volumes, if slightly updated. New chapters include an analysis of Bashar al-Assad’s presidency, and a fascinating addition of various ex-military and government personalities’ memoirs in the final chapter, all summarised succinctly by Van Dam.
As with previous volumes, this work is a must read for those interested in Syrian history, and the bibliography is a wonderful tool for students of Syria and the Middle East in general, containing extensive works in both the English and Arabic language. Van Dam’s writing is clear and authoritative, a particular boon considering the otherwise confusing sectarian make-up of Syrian society.
Van Damn documents the rise of minority groups in Syria, including Alawi, Isma’ilis, Druze, and Greek Orthodox Christians. While he is careful to acknowledge that there are many distinct minorities in Syria not distinguished by religious differences (for example Kurd and Armenian ethnic minorities), his analysis of sectarianism in Syria uses predominately the religious classifications highlighted above. Beyond the religious differences, he is keen to show how important regionalism is to Syrians’ identities, as well as when and how religious, regional, or the ethnic distinction plays the more important role in Syrian politics.
His account of this plethora of minorities unfolds from a backdrop of Sunni dominance in Syria, which ended most visibly with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. His brief account of this Sunni dominance sets the scene for the minority groups’ acceptance of an Arab socialist or Ba’th party ideology. Van Dam’s sympathetic account of the plight of these minorities shows how an ideology of secularism and equality, as articulated by the Ba’th party, could gain much currency among these groups.
From here Van Dam documents how the formerly oppressed minority, the Alawis, became the dominant force of the new Ba’thist government. Various purges of different minorities and strategic deployments of Alawis to the top positions in various state institutions follow, culminating in a final show-down within the Alawi elite between Hafiz al-Assad and Salah Jadid. Van Dam’s account of the rivalry and Hafiz al-Assad’s eventual triumph contains little that is not found in regular biographies of Hafiz al-Assad. Rather, Van Dam’s account is distinguished by a superb analysis of the nature of al-Assad’s power, and how it is inexorably linked to sectarianism.
The final chapters of the book develops this analysis of Ba’thist and al-Assad power, highlights the secular Ba’thists inability to curb sectarianism, and links this failure to a paradox about how the party derives its political power. The rise of the Ba’th party in Syria, and the Alawis and Hafiz al-Assad specifically, was to a large extent only possible by leaning on traditional, sectarian power structures. Even if Ba’th leaders genuinely believed the party’s socialist agenda (Van Dam believes this to be the case), the transformation of these sectarian power structures into more equitable systems undermined the very power on which the Ba’th party relied. The dominance of the one Alawi group over the others has bred animosity amongst those governed peoples, be they the minority Greek Orthodox, Druze or Isma’ili groups, or the majority Sunnis. After years of minority rule in Syria there are many groups who would seek to ‘settle the score’ should the current political system collapse. As such, Bashar al-Assad’s government now fights fiercely to maintain power.
While this fourth edition of Van Dam’s book reads mostly as a historical exposé of domestic politics in Syria, one of the book’s main conclusions links the political stability of the country to the persistent minority rule of the Alawis. Considering this incredible political continuity (the Ba’th party has been in power since 1963, and the al-Assad family since 1970), The struggle for power in Syria is essential for anyone interested in Syria today. While it is difficult to speculate about the current revolts in Syria given the government’s tight control over information, Van Dam’s book offers an accessible and concise lens which to understand Syrian society’s current predicament.
