CHAPTER 8
Syria Under Bashar al-Asad: Clinging To His Roots?
Christopher Hemmer
Introduction
“When there is a storm the need is greater to cling to the
roots, to principles and to the constants which are our roots. No
matter how long the storm might last it is going to stop and
when you try to stand up after the storm you will not be able to
unless you have roots.”
-Bashar al-Asad
1
Upon the death of Hafiz al-Asad in June 2000, The Economist
quipped that Syria had seemingly “lost a dictator and gained an
ophthalmologist.”
2
The transfer of power from a long-time military
strongman to his medically trained and politically inexperienced son was
bound to raise expectations of change in a society whose stability under 30
years of Hafiz al-Asad’s rule bordered on paralysis. The challenges
Bashar and Syria face are formidable. As Glenn Robinson notes, Syria is
in many ways an anachronism, it is a minority dominated authoritarian
state in the age of democracy and a statist economy in the age of the
market.
3
Internationally the challenges are just as stiff. The ongoing
conflict with Israel over the Golan Heights, continuing regional challenges
from Iraq and Turkey, a Lebanon increasingly restive under Syrian rule, and
a United States paying more attention to Syria’s support for international
terrorism, all pose challenges that Bashar will have to grapple with.
The initial transfer of power from father to son went far smoother
than many had expected, a significant accomplishment in a country where
as David Sorenson notes, coups are the traditional means for succession.
4
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