Syria

A change in the governance of Syria would have complex implications for domestic politics and for the country’s external relations. Hafiz al-Asad’s regime and the governmental system of the Syrian Arab Republic are not identical, but they have become very closely intertwined. Not only is Asad’s approach a product of the Baathist ideology as it spread in the 1940s and 1950s within the Arab world, but he and his associates, past and current, have reshaped that ideology. During the 1960s and 1970s, Syrians built a contemporary, centralized form of administration, with industry, communications, education, and most other spheres of activity directed from the capital. In the first five Five Year Plans since 1960, Syria worked to create an infrastructure and build factories that would permit it to become more independent of foreign sources for manufactured goods. Location and history have combined to give Syria a prominent place in contemporary Middle Eastern affairs.