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Demystifying Syria (SOAS Middle East Issues Series) |  | Creator: Fred H. Lawson
Publisher: Saqi Books
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $12.80
as of 9/8/2010 14:30 EDT details
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Seller: allnewbooks
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 231547
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0863566545
Dewey Decimal Number: 956
EAN: 9780863566547
ASIN: 0863566545
Publication Date: February 1, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Syria stands at the center of contemporary Middle Eastern affairs, yet it remains poorly understood by analysts and the general public. This collection presents an innovative study of key aspects of Syrian politics, economics, and society. Each contribution is firmly grounded in primary research undertaken in Syria. The contributors identify current trends in Syria and go on to situate recent developments within broader contextual issues. Fred H. Lawson is a lecturer at Mills College, California. He is the author of Constructing International Relations in the Arab World (Stanford University Press) and Why Syria Goes to War (Cornell University Press).
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| Customer Reviews:
An interesting set of essays on Syria today February 1, 2010
Graham (Palo Alto, CA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a useful collection of ten essays on various aspects of Syrian government policy and behavior. Topics covered range from the economy, to religious and ethnic tensions, to opposition politics, to foreign policy.
I found the essays particularly useful in understanding the forces for and against economic reform (yes, entrenched interests are part of it, but so is a widespread "collectivist" social viewpoint) and some of the forces driving Syria's often opaque foreign policy (most notably a tendency to act as a balancer, thus tending to lean against whatever tides of influence are strengthening another regional player).
While it is useful to see different perspectives from different authors, the book does tend to come across as a series of narrow windows rather than as a single unified analysis. However, some of these narrow windows do sometimes turn out to be unexpectedly enlightening. For example, I had been tempted to skip an opaquely titled essay on "The Shii Mausoleums of Raqqa", but this turned out to be the basis for a thoughtful discussion of Iranian/Shiite religious influence in Syria and the interplay of different Islamic factions. (Among much else, I was surprised to discover that over two hundred thousand Iranian pilgrims visit Syria each year.)
With thirteen contributing authors, the writing quality and style vary considerably; sometimes rather stilted and academic, sometimes brisk and incisive. However, the overall work is quite readable and while I fear it does not entirely succeed in "demystifying" Syria, it does succeed in shedding a considerable amount of light and in offering rational underlying motivations for what can sometimes seem like eccentricities or miscalculations to outsiders. In general the authors seem to be aiming for a reasonably neutral perspective and seek to describe and to explain, rather than to either defend or criticize.
Overall, a useful and informative work.
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