Volker Perthes

Syria entered a new phase with the death of its long-serving leader, Hafiz al-Asad, and the accession of his son Bashar in 2000. While the new president has disappointed much of the hopes for political opening which he himself has created, Syria is clearly undergoing a process of change. The author analyses the factors of economic and political change in the country, and gives a portrait of its new leadership.

Modernisation and the Limits of Change

Syria under Bashar al-Asad

Hafez Assad

Syria under Asad has been one of the key regional powers of the Middle East. Though its political development has been a much-debated subject, there has been no comprehensive study in English of the country's political economy and its evolution since 1970 to the present day. Beginning with an account of economic development and of changing development strategies, Perthes discusses the factors which in the late 1980s precipitated a change in direction from the socialist orientation of the earlier Ba'thist years to ""infitah"" and a larger role for the private sector. He pays particular attention to class structure and class-state relations and examines the nature of the state, the political structure and the mechanisms and dynamics of political decision-making. Addressing the issue of the interplay between economic transformation and political change, Perthes argues that, although a shift in the power structure will not occur under Asad, his regime has created the institutions which will allow a reasonably smooth succession and a creation of a less personalized and more participatory political order.

The Political Economy of Syria Under Asad

PHYSIOLOGICAL & NEURO-PSYCHOLOGY. What distinguishes good explanations in neuroscience from bad? Carl F. Craver constructs and defends standards for evaluating neuroscientific explanations that are grounded in a systematic view of what neuroscientific explanations are: descriptions of multilevel mechanisms. In developing this approach, he draws on a wide range of examples in the history of neuroscience (e.g. Hodgkin and Huxley's model of the action potential and LTP as a putative explanation for different kinds of memory), as well as recent philosophical work on the nature of scientific explanation. Readers in neuroscience, psychology, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of science will find much to provoke and stimulate them in this book.

Syria Under Bashar Al-Asad

Nicolai von Ondarza

Barbara Lippert

Abstract: Europa muss in zunehmendem Maße selbst Verantwortung für sein Wohlergehen und seine Sicherheit übernehmen. Die Debatte über die Stärkung der europäischen Handlungs- und Gestaltungsfähigkeit dreht sich um Begriffe wie den der strategischen Autonomie oder, vor allem in Frankreich, der europäischen Souveränität. Selten allerdings werden diese Begriffe definiert und wird erläutert, was politisch und praktisch verlangt ist. Strategische Autonomie wird hier als die Fähigkeit definiert, eigene außen- und sicherheitspolitische Prioritäten zu setzen und Entscheidungen zu treffen, sowie die institutionellen, politischen und materiellen Voraussetzungen, um diese in Kooperation mit Dritten oder, falls nötig, eigenständig umzusetzen. Dieses Verständnis umfasst das gesamte Spektrum außen- und sicherheitspolitischen Handelns, nicht nur die verteidigungspolitische Dimension. Autonomie ist immer relativ. Politisch geht es um einen Zuwachs an Handlungsfähigkeit, also um einen Prozess, keinen abs

Akteure, Handlungsfelder, Zielkonflikte

Strategische Autonomie Europas

The recent deaths of four long-term heads of state in the Arab world heralded important changes, as political power passed from one generation to the next. Shedding light on these changes, Arab Elites explores the attitudes and political agendas of the new leadership emerging throughout the region. A strong analytical framework informs the authors discussion of elites in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Tunisia. The result is a portrait of the current state, and likely future, of politics in the Arab Middle East.

Volker Perthes

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