ABSTRACT
In the years after 1958 Syria underwent a radical revolution similar to that experienced by Egypt after 1952 and Iraq after 1958. The principal changes in Syria were like those in Egypt and Iraq, namely the extinction of the political and economic power of the old landed urban notables who had dominated the Syrian scene before 1958 and the emergence of a new military and civilian élite dependent upon the greatly enhanced economic and political eminence of the state. The Syrian revolution was compressed into the years 1963 to 1970; the preceding period may be regarded as preparatory and the subsequent years as a time of consolidation. As in Egypt and Iraq the main agency of change was the army but the army officers who gained power came from more rural backgrounds than those in Egypt and Iraq; in fact, especially from a religious minority, the Alawīs. Two other features distinguished the Syrian experience from that of Egypt. First, in Syria there was less of a tradition of state interventionism than in Egypt and therefore the change was more revolutionary and dramatic. And second, as in Iraq, the transition in Syria was punctuated by a series of often violent coups.
