The Lion in Spring? Three Takes on Syria through the Presidential Lens

Alan George, Syria: Neither Bread Nor Freedom. London and New York:Zed Books, 2003; Flynt Leverett, Inheriting Syria: Bashar’s Trial by Fire.Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2005; David Lesch, The NewLion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria. New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, 2005.Since Hafez al-Asad’s death in June 2000, Syria has spent more time in theinternational spotlight than perhaps ever before, due primarily to the Bushadministration’s interest in the country’s relations with four of its neighbors:Iran, Iraq, Israel, and Lebanon. This interest has spurred the publication ofseveral “contemporary issues” books analyzing the country’s political situationand aimed at English-speaking policymaking, analyst, diplomatic, andjournalistic communities in the United States and elsewhere. Three of themost talked-about analyses are Alan George’s Syria: Neither Bread NorFreedom, Flynt Leverett’s Inheriting Syria: Bashar’s Trial by Fire, andDavid Lesch’s The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and ModernSyria. These three books have become well-known “recommended reads”for policymakers working on Syria and have circulated around the Europeanand American diplomatic, non-governmental organization (NGO), and businesscircles in Damascus.Like most of the books published on Syria since the 1970s, these threefocus on the president, and for good reason: the intense presidential personalitycult that characterized Syria under Hafez al-Asad (reigned 1971-2000) has continued into his son Bashar’s presidency, albeit in a softened form(fewer photos in public places and less frenzied “great leader” rhetoric).Those looking to explain current Syrian policies and to forecast future developmentsdo so by concentrating their analyses on the president – in this case,the son of the legendary and much-scrutinized Hafez. The transition from aregime led by a man about whom decades of information and analysis hadbeen collected to one led by his relatively unknown son has produced asense of uncertainty and lack of knowledge among American policymakers,foreign service officials, and journalists. For many seeking to understandSyria’s present and likely future, the primary questions to answer are: Whois Bashar and what has influenced his development as a political leader?What are his objectives as regards ideological, domestic, and foreign relationsconcerns? How strong is he vis-à-vis other regime officials, and whatcapacity does he have to make his objectives prevail? ...