ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the foreign policy of Damascus during the years of this study. While the Ba’th party remained the dominant force in the country for all of this period, the foreign policy of the country changed significantly. Syrian foreign policy shifted from ideological and uncompromising (here defined as unlimited revisionism) to a more pragmatic and flexible approach (labelled here limited revisionism). This change was due to external and systemic changes, such as the re-adjustment in the regional balance of power caused by the 1967 war. But it was also caused by domestic changes, and particularly by the change in leadership that followed the 1970 intra-Ba’th coup. When Hafez Al-Assad took over power from Salah Jadid and his circle, the new leader imposed a new foreign policy that differed significantly from the one of the previous Ba’th regime.
