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Syria: A Decade of Lost Chances: Repression and Revolution from Demascus Spring to Arab Spring
When Arab Spring swept the region, Syria s President Bashar al-Asad thought that he was safe. Over the previous five years, the moderate opposition had been crushed. Unlike Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya, Syria had taken an anti-US stance since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Syrians were used to living under sanctions and being called terrorists. Asad told movie stars Brad and Angelina when they visited Damascus that he did not need personal security, because ordinary Syrians were protecting him. The Syrian president was convinced that Syrians loved him.
And not only Syrians. Vogue agreed in its March 2011 puff piece that described Asad's wife as a Rose in the Desert. What of Syrian naysayers? Asad counted on his ruthless and all-seeing mukhabarat to keep them in line.
Tackling politics, society, religion, and economy, Syria - A Decade of Lost Chances explores the eleven years of Asad s rule between the clampdown on Damascus Spring in 2001 and the challenge of escalating street protests in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2012.
Author Carsten Wieland interviewed the major opposition figures year by year over this decade. A valuable complement to the growing body of indigenous reporting (youtube videos, blog commentary), Syria - A Decade of Lost Chances provides context and expert insight that reveals the essential struggle and untold barbarity unfolding here in what Syrian government tourist brochures call the cradle of civilization.
And not only Syrians. Vogue agreed in its March 2011 puff piece that described Asad's wife as a Rose in the Desert. What of Syrian naysayers? Asad counted on his ruthless and all-seeing mukhabarat to keep them in line.
Tackling politics, society, religion, and economy, Syria - A Decade of Lost Chances explores the eleven years of Asad s rule between the clampdown on Damascus Spring in 2001 and the challenge of escalating street protests in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2012.
Author Carsten Wieland interviewed the major opposition figures year by year over this decade. A valuable complement to the growing body of indigenous reporting (youtube videos, blog commentary), Syria - A Decade of Lost Chances provides context and expert insight that reveals the essential struggle and untold barbarity unfolding here in what Syrian government tourist brochures call the cradle of civilization.
338 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 9, 2014
This is an abridged version of a review that i wrote for the Syrian Studies Association Bulletin Vol 18, No 2 (2013). Full review can be accessed here:
https://ojcs.siue.edu/ojs/index.php/s...
The main focus of the book is not the current Syrian Uprising itself, but rather – as the title suggests – the preceding decade of Bashar al-Assad's reign over Syria. According to Wieland, Bashar failed to capitalize on the "waves of popularity" he enjoyed during this period and the legitimacy of the Ba'thist state among large sectors of the population to carry out concrete political reforms that may have spared the country its present tragedy. The author examines in detail the behavior of the regime internationally and domestically over this period, focusing on oscillating relations with Western countries and the suppression of the Civil Society Movement which called for political reform after Bashar al-Assad inherited power from his late father Hafiz al-Assad in 2000.
Another central concern of the book is whether Bashar al-Assad genuinely sought political reform during his first few years in power (but was obstructed by conservative members of his regime) or he was simply a sly pretender exploiting the role of the sincere reformer whose hands are nevertheless tied. In some instances, the author hints at the first characterization of the Syrian president, whereas in other instances he seems to suggest the second characterization. As with many other questions he poses in his book, Wieland does not seem to settle clearly on one answer over the other. He presents the reader with as much details, testimonies, and theories as possible, but does not make enough effort to synthesize them or construct a coherent argument.
The author states in his foreword that the book is intended as both a journalistic account and an academic analysis of the history of Syria under the presidency of Bashar al-Assad. While the book does provide some in-depth analysis of certain aspects of this period of Syrian history, he fails to draw on some important academic sources on political culture in Syria such as Lisa Wedeen's well-known book "Ambiguities of Domination." This might be a major problem of the book for an academic reader, given that a large part of it is devoted to Bashar al-Assad's own character and public image.
The book relies mainly on interviews with members of the Civil Society Movement, particularly Michel Kilo, who is quoted extensively throughout. In addition, a variety of businessmen, parliamentarians, civil society figures, and journalists are quoted in the book, some of whom were at some point close to the circles of power in Syria. The book, however, does not go beyond these elite sectors of Syrian society to investigate the voices of ordinary citizens or more grassroots activists who were present and active in Syria years before the Uprising. This gives the book a slightly elitist bias; and hence it fails to recognize some of the internal dynamics of the Syrian street that helped shape the current situation.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned drawbacks, the book remains highly readable and useful for common and academic readers alike. It might be particularly useful for those who are un- or little informed about Syrian politics, as it contains an extensive and fairly accurate account of Bashar al-Assad's internal policies and international relations as well as the civil opposition against his regime, which lay the background for Syria's present dilemma between a brutal, intractable regime and an opposition that is plagued with extremism, factionalism, and political impotence. Even for close followers of Syrian politics, the book can serve as a helpful reference work on Syria's most recent history and it may well offer some interesting new information. Western policymakers and analysts too are likely to find the book helpful to review and assess Western policies toward Syria before the outbreak of the ongoing uprising, which might explain the West's present inability to intervene positively in the crisis.
https://ojcs.siue.edu/ojs/index.php/s...
The main focus of the book is not the current Syrian Uprising itself, but rather – as the title suggests – the preceding decade of Bashar al-Assad's reign over Syria. According to Wieland, Bashar failed to capitalize on the "waves of popularity" he enjoyed during this period and the legitimacy of the Ba'thist state among large sectors of the population to carry out concrete political reforms that may have spared the country its present tragedy. The author examines in detail the behavior of the regime internationally and domestically over this period, focusing on oscillating relations with Western countries and the suppression of the Civil Society Movement which called for political reform after Bashar al-Assad inherited power from his late father Hafiz al-Assad in 2000.
Another central concern of the book is whether Bashar al-Assad genuinely sought political reform during his first few years in power (but was obstructed by conservative members of his regime) or he was simply a sly pretender exploiting the role of the sincere reformer whose hands are nevertheless tied. In some instances, the author hints at the first characterization of the Syrian president, whereas in other instances he seems to suggest the second characterization. As with many other questions he poses in his book, Wieland does not seem to settle clearly on one answer over the other. He presents the reader with as much details, testimonies, and theories as possible, but does not make enough effort to synthesize them or construct a coherent argument.
The author states in his foreword that the book is intended as both a journalistic account and an academic analysis of the history of Syria under the presidency of Bashar al-Assad. While the book does provide some in-depth analysis of certain aspects of this period of Syrian history, he fails to draw on some important academic sources on political culture in Syria such as Lisa Wedeen's well-known book "Ambiguities of Domination." This might be a major problem of the book for an academic reader, given that a large part of it is devoted to Bashar al-Assad's own character and public image.
The book relies mainly on interviews with members of the Civil Society Movement, particularly Michel Kilo, who is quoted extensively throughout. In addition, a variety of businessmen, parliamentarians, civil society figures, and journalists are quoted in the book, some of whom were at some point close to the circles of power in Syria. The book, however, does not go beyond these elite sectors of Syrian society to investigate the voices of ordinary citizens or more grassroots activists who were present and active in Syria years before the Uprising. This gives the book a slightly elitist bias; and hence it fails to recognize some of the internal dynamics of the Syrian street that helped shape the current situation.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned drawbacks, the book remains highly readable and useful for common and academic readers alike. It might be particularly useful for those who are un- or little informed about Syrian politics, as it contains an extensive and fairly accurate account of Bashar al-Assad's internal policies and international relations as well as the civil opposition against his regime, which lay the background for Syria's present dilemma between a brutal, intractable regime and an opposition that is plagued with extremism, factionalism, and political impotence. Even for close followers of Syrian politics, the book can serve as a helpful reference work on Syria's most recent history and it may well offer some interesting new information. Western policymakers and analysts too are likely to find the book helpful to review and assess Western policies toward Syria before the outbreak of the ongoing uprising, which might explain the West's present inability to intervene positively in the crisis.
August 5, 2013
Well thought out. I used this book as a blueprint for personal meditation on all that happened in the first decade of this millenium. A decade that started with much promise, but by the end was a clear disappointment.
The many advantages syrian society has accumulated over years of sacrifices, some personally from truuly great people, are discussed in this book. Sadly it's clear that our petty clan loyalties are what won at the end, regressing Syria into its most base form.
We passed a decade of lost chances, and now we must survive a decade of death.
The many advantages syrian society has accumulated over years of sacrifices, some personally from truuly great people, are discussed in this book. Sadly it's clear that our petty clan loyalties are what won at the end, regressing Syria into its most base form.
We passed a decade of lost chances, and now we must survive a decade of death.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews