Table of Contents

Introduction - liberalization between Cold War and cold peace, Eberhard Kienle. Part I Economic reform - realities and tendencies: Investment Law No. 10 - which future for the private sector?, Sylvia Polling; the crisis of 1986 and Syria's plan for reform, Nabil Sukkar. Part II Elements and prospects of political change: stages of economic and political liberalization, Volker Perthes; the Syrian business community, its politics and prospects, Joseph Bahout; al-dimuqratiyya hiyya al-hall? the Syrian opposition at the end of the Asad era, Hans Gunter Lobmeyer; liberalization in Syria - the struggle of economic and political rationality, Raymond A. Hinnebusch; the return of politics? scenarios for Syria's second Infitah, Eberhard Kienle. Part III International implications: Syria after Ta'if - Lebanon and the Lebanese in Syrian politics, Fida Nasrallah; domestic pressures and the peace process - fillip or hindrance?, Fred H. Lawson.

Promotional Information

Asad's regime in Syria has introduced great economic change over the last decade. Through analyzing the relationship between processes of economic and political liberalization in the domestic arena - and their repercussions internationally - this work develops possible future scenarios.

About the Author

Eberhard Kienle is Lecturer in Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and is the author of Ba'th versus Ba'th: The Conflict between Syria and Iraq (I.B.Tauris 1990).