Charles Tripp

Syria: The State and its Narratives (Review Article)

Two themes have been prominent in writing on the politics and modern history of Syria. The first has been the great differences in ideas of political community among the Syrians. The second has focused on the sociology of the changing elites which have dominated Syria since its foundation, examining the nature of their power and the reasons for their coherence and fragmentation. Much of the historiography has therefore been preoccupied with the relationship between the two at critical junctures. The manifest or latent conflicts of Syrian political life have often been seen as struggles between distinct groups of Syrians, adhering to specific and exclusive notions of community and seeking to preserve or extend their privileges. In these accounts, by and large, two features stand out: the weak attachment historically to the idea of a Syrian national community and the use of force as the principal means of gaining and preserving power. These are persuasive themes and clearly have a good deal of validity as ways of interpreting Syrian history. However, their prevalence and persuasiveness have often led to the relative neglect of other features of Syrian political experience. The books by Gelvin and Heydemann, in their very different ways, are in some measure attempts to retrieve these other facets of the composite narrative of Syrian political history. Each deals with quite discrete periods, separated from each other by several decades, yet they both share a determination to make us think again about the framework in which we may have become accustomed to think of Syrian politics. This lends considerable originality and a refreshing clarity of purpose to both books. On the one hand, the authors are explicit about their theoretical approaches to the understanding of power, markedly different as these approaches are. On the other hand, they have brought to light a range of sources and materials hitherto not much used in the writing of Syrian history. The integration of both and the sustained, consistent way in which they advance their arguments make both accounts commendably coherent and plausible. For Gelvin, one of the main concerns is to examine and explain two

THE ART OF RESISTANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The author looks at the relationship between art and power and the ways in which resistance to power is manifested in art. This is a universal phenomenon, but the examples discussed are all from the Middle East, principally the Palestinian struggle, Iran, Lebanon and Iraq. Posters, graffiti etc all have their place and the events of the Arab Spring have shown the potential for the defacement of official public images as an act of defiance. The precise impact of these various art forms is not easy to measure, but clearly when someone can tear down the image of a president with impunity, something in political life has changed.

Art, power and knowledge: claiming public space in Tunisia

Charles Tripp argues that through artistic interventions – graffiti, visual street art, performances, demonstrations, banners, slogans – citizens have appropriated the public sphere. Despite the monitoring of political dissent through persuasion or coercion, an activist public has created highly visible public spaces, assisted and encouraged by citizen artists. They have generated debates and have helped to give substance to competing visions of the republic.

West Asia from the First World War

The loss by the Ottoman Empire of its last Arab provinces during the First World War, and the dissolution soon thereafter of the Ottoman state itself, opened up the possibilities of radical political change in the region. The awarding of the mandates for Syria to France and for Mesopotamia and Palestine to Great Britain by the League of Nations in April 1920 sanctioned the occupation of these territories and opened the way for their political reorganisation. Some of those who participated in the war of 1948 were volunteers from the Muslim Brotherhood in Transjordan. The young army officers, state servants and urbanised peasantry who played an increasingly prominent part in the politics of the region were driven by the visions of Arab nationalism, of state socialism and of Marxism. In 1985 Hizbullah outlined its main goals: the expulsion of Israeli forces from Lebanon and the eventual establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon.

Timing is everything: The making of the Israel‐PLO deal

Jane Corbin, Gaza First: the Secret Norway Channel to Peace Between Israel and the PLO, London, Bloomsbury, 1994. John King, Handshake in Washington: The Beginning of Middle East Peace? Reading, Ithaca Press, 1994. Omar Massalha, Towards the Long‐Promised Peace, London, Saqi Books, 1994. Shimon Peres, The New Middle East, Shaftsbury, Element Books, 1993.