Businessmen and butchers: the domestic roots of Syria's changing foreign policy

What explains Syria's pro-Western foreign policy in recent years? The most common argument--that the shift occurred because of the demise of the USSR, Syria's primary patron--is, as this thesis demonstrates, inaccurate. Rather, this thesis proves that changes in Syria's foreign policy began in the mid-l980s --not in 1991 --and were driven primarily by domestic economic factors, not by international structures. Syria's increasingly pro-Western foreign policy was a byproduct of economic liberalization policies (infiraj), begun in the early 1980s. For economic liberalization to succeed, Syria had to attract foreign -- primarily Western -- capital. In addition, the liberalization changed Syria's class structure, expanding and promoting to positions of influence a new class of Western-educated and/or -looking entrepreneurs. Both of these developments pushed Syria in new foreign policy directions well before the collapse of the USSR. Its behavior in the Gulf War and at the Madrid Conference was more a reflection of altered Syrian internal politics than of the recognition that the United States was the only true superpower in a changed international system. This thesis has important policy and theoretical applications. It identifies the driving forces of Syria's current foreign policy behavior, and it pushes theorists to take seriously the domestic roots of foreign policy-making.

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

1994

Author dc:creator

• Meyer, Michael B.

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Robinson, Glenn E.
• Wirtz, James J.

Statement dc:rights

• This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/42839

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/42839