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The Making of Syria’s Strategic Culture

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Strategic Culture and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Part of the book series: Initiatives in Strategic Studies: Issues and Policies ((ISSIP))

Abstract

By virtue of its leading role in the Arab national movement, Syria’s strategic culture is rooted in its view of itself as the champion of Arab rights against what it perceives to be Western penetration of the Middle East, with Israel as its bridgehead. That perception is derived from Syria’s bitter experience with Western colonial powers, especially Britain, which first fragmented the Middle East, then colonized it, and later supported European Jews in the usurpation of Palestine. It is also derived from Syria’s frustration with the United States, which provides Israel massive military, political, and economic support—even as Israel occupies Arab territories in violation of United Nations Security Council land-for-peace resolutions.

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Notes

  1. British and French diplomats agreed on the division of Greater Syria (contained in the secret Sykes—Picot agreement) as early as 1916. The treaty became publicly known only in 1917 as a result of its leaking by the Bolsheviks. For further reading on this question, see Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab—Israel Conflict, 5th ed. (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004), pp. 64–67.

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  2. See, Amy Dockser Marcus, “Growing Dangers: U.S. Drive to Curb Doomsday Weapons in Mideast Is Faltering,” Wall Street Journal, September 6, 1966, p. Al. For a more detailed account of Israel’s nuclear capability, see Rodney W. Jones and Mark G. McDonough, Tracking Nuclear Proliferation (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1998), chapter 7.

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  3. One of the major issues dividing Syria and Turkey is the question of riparian rights over the Euphrates River. Another issue is the territorial dispute over the province of Alexandretta (known as “Hatai” to Turks; “Iskenderun” to Syrians). That province was ceded by France to Turkey in 1939 in order to entice Turkey to not enter into an alliance with Nazi Germany. Syria was then under the French mandate, and Syrians were not consulted. For further reading, see Murhaf Jouejati, “Water Politics As High Politics: The Case of Turkey and Syria,” in Henri J. Barkey, ed. Reluctant Neighbor: Turkey’s Role in the Middle East (Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace, 1996), pp. 131–46.

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  4. For further reading on the Turkey—Israel alliance, see Gregory A. Burris, “Turkey—Israel: Speed Bumps,” The Middle East Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Fall 2003), pp. 67–80, available at http://www.meforum.org/article/569.

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  5. For the best account of the Syrian—Iraqi rivalry, see Eberhard Kienle, Ba’th versus Ba’th: The Conflict Between Syria and Iraq, 1968–1989 (St. Martin’s, 1991).

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  6. Raymond A Bahgat Korany and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki, eds., Hinnebusch, “Revisionist Dreams, Realist Strategies: The Foreign Policy of Syria,” in The Foreign Policy of Arab States, (Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 1984), pp. 285–87.

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  7. Antoine Guine, The New Syria (Damascus: SAMA, 1975), p. 103.

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  8. Adeed I. Dawisha, “Syria and the Sadat Initiative,” World Today, Vol. 34, No. 5 (May 1978), p. 194.

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  10. Raymond A. Hinnebusch, “Syria: The Politics of Peace and Regime Survival,” Middle EastPolicy, Vol. 3 (1995), p. 78.

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  11. Hanna Batatu, Syria’s Peasantry, The Descendents of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), pp. 206–07.

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  12. See Murhaf Jouejati, “Syrian Motives for Its WMD Programs and What to Do about Them,” Middle East Journal, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Winter 2005), pp. 52–61

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  13. and Jouejati, “Syrian WMD Programs in Context,” in James A. Russell, ed., Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 63–73.

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  14. Anthony H. Cordesman, Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East (New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1991), p. 165.

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  15. Alasdair Drysdale and Raymond A. Hinnebusch, Syria and the Middle East Peace Process (New York: Council on foreign Relations Press, 1991), p. 165.

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Authors
  1. Murhaf Jouejati
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. political science department, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA

    Jeannie L. Johnson (lecturer) (lecturer)

  2. Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, U.S. Department of State, USA

    Kerry M. Kartchner (senior advisor for strategic planning) (senior advisor for strategic planning)

  3. Graduate Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, Missouri State University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

    Kerry M. Kartchner (senior advisor for strategic planning) (senior advisor for strategic planning)

  4. Larsen Consulting Group, USA

    Jeffrey A. Larsen (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president) (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president)

  5. Science Applications International Corporation, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

    Jeffrey A. Larsen (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president) (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president)

  6. graduate programs, University of Denver and Northwestern University, USA

    Jeffrey A. Larsen (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president) (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president)

  7. International Security and Arms Control section, American Political Science Association, USA

    Jeffrey A. Larsen (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president) (president and a senior scientist, an adjunct professor of international relations, president)

Copyright information

© 2009 Jeannie L. Johnson, Kerry M. Kartchner, and Jeffrey A. Larsen

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Jouejati, M. (2009). The Making of Syria’s Strategic Culture. In: Johnson, J.L., Kartchner, K.M., Larsen, J.A. (eds) Strategic Culture and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Initiatives in Strategic Studies: Issues and Policies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230618305_10

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