Search

The article focuses on the political and social conditions of Syria with reference to the continuous instability in political scenario. The chronic instability of Syria is the product of many things. Syrian politics are chaotic, uncertain, and often violent, and this to a unique degree in an already turbulent Middle East. Historically, Syria has rarely led an independent existence. Its capital Damascus is supposed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, but it has seldom been a political center of any importance, with the exception of the interlude between 661 and 750. One partial explanation lies in Syrian geography. Syria is the land bridge connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe. The real goals of historical invaders have been trans-Syrian; the area itself has usually aroused but tangential interest. Moreover, Syrian topography offers few barriers; so the fate of this area has almost always depended upon battles fought elsewhere. As a result Syria has been buffeted about constantly by the machinations of more ambitious and powerful states. Such turbulence breeds both insecurity and domestic violence; it makes ungovernable and chaotic forces the normal concomitants of political change. Thus, to conclude, its geography has thrust Syria into the maelstrom of Afro-Asian conflicts and its history into the confused eddies of inchoate cultural patterns. Violence has become institutionalized, not only to correct major abuses of power but also to effect minor changes in the law, the bureaucracy, and the national slogans. Inevitably this has meant that the monopolists of coercion, that is, the army, have become the determining factor in Syrian politics.