| ID | 174495 |
| Title Proper | Turbulent from the Start |
| Other Title Information | Revisiting Military Politics in Pre-Baʿth Syria |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Nassif, Hicham Bou |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article reconsiders military politics in Syria prior to the 1963 Baʿthi power grab in light of new sources. I undermine the presumptions that Baʿthi tactics of sectarian favoritism in the armed forces were unprecedented in post-independence Syria. I make the following arguments: first, attempts by the Sunni power elite to tame Syrian minorities were part of a broad sequence of events that spanned several regimes and informed politics in the Syrian officer corps; second, the various military strongmen who ruled Damascus intermittently from 1949 until 1963 distrusted minority officers and relied mainly on fellow Sunnis to exert control in the armed forces; and third, the combination of minority marginalization in Syrian politics and Sunni preferentialism inside the armed forces bred enmity and polarized sectarian relations in the officer corps. |
| `In' analytical Note | International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 52, No.3; Aug 2020: p.469 - 488 |
| Journal Source | International Journal of Middle East Studies 2020-08 52, 3 |
| Key Words | Minorities ; Military ; Syria ; Coups ; Sunnis ; Officers |