Politics of Ba'athist Syria سياسة سوريا البعثيية | |
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| Polity type | Unitarydominant-partypresidential republic |
| Constitution | Constitution of Syria |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | People's Council |
| Type | Unicameral |
| Meeting place | Parliament Building |
| Presiding officer | Speaker of the People's Council |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state | |
| Title | President |
| Appointer | Direct popular vote |
| Head of government | |
| Title | Prime Minister |
| Appointer | President |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Council of Ministers |
| Leader | Prime Minister |
| Deputy leader | Deputy Prime Minister |
| Appointer | President |
| Ministries | 28 |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | Judiciary of Syria |
| Supreme Constitutional Court | |
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During the final decade ofBa'ath party rule, the politics of Syria took place in the framework of apresidential republic[1][2] with nominalmulti-party representation inPeople's Council under the Ba'athist-dominatedNational Progressive Front. In practice,Ba'athist Syria remained aone-party state where independent parties were outlawed, with a powerfulsecret police that cracked down on dissidents.[3][4] From the1963 seizure of power by itsneo-Ba'athistMilitary Committee to thefall of the Assad regime, theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party operated atotalitarianpolice state in Syria.[a] After a period of intra-party strife,Hafez al-Assad gained control of the party following the1970 coup d'état and his family dominated the country's politics.[5][6][7]
Until the early stages of theSyrian uprising, the president had broad and uncheckeddecree authority under a long-standingstate of emergency. The end of this emergency was a key demand of the uprising. Superficial reforms in 2011 made presidential decrees subject to approval by thePeople's Council, the country's legislature, which was itself dominated to parties loyal to the president.[8] The Ba'ath Party was Syria's ruling party and the previous Syrian constitution of 1973 stated that "the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party leads society and the state."[9] At least 183 seats of the 250-member parliament were reserved for theNational Progressive Front, a Ba'ath Party dominated coalition that consists of nine other satellite parties loyal to Ba'athist rule.[10][11] The rest of the seats are occupied by independents, who are nominated by the Ba'ath party.[12]
TheSyrian Army and security services maintained aconsiderable presence in the neighbouringLebanese Republic from 1975 until 24 April 2005.[13] The 50th edition ofFreedom in the World, the annual report published byFreedom House since 1973, designates Syria as "Worst of the Worst" among the "Not Free" countries, listingAssad government as one of the two regimes to get the lowest possible score (1/100).[14][15]
Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970. After his death in 2000 his son, Bashar al-Assad, succeeded him as president. A surge of interest in political reform took place after Bashar al-Assad assumed power in 2000.Human-rights activists and other civil-society advocates, as well as some parliamentarians, became more outspoken during a period referred to as the "Damascus Spring" (July 2000-February 2001), which was crushed by the Ba'athist government under the pretext of "national unity and stability".[16]
Hafez al-Assad built his government around three pillars, core of which is the Ba'ath party and its affiliated organizations which holds extensive influence over the society through its monopoly over the media and civil activism.Alawite elites who are loyal to theAssad family form another patronage network. The final pillar is the pervasive military apparatus that is managed by theBa'athist Central Command; consisting ofSyrian Arab Armed Forces,Mukhabarat and various Ba'athist paramilitaries, all of which are headed by senior party leaders who directly answer to the Assad patriarch.[17]
The Ba'ath platform is proclaimed succinctly in theparty's slogan: "Unity, freedom, and socialism." The party is both socialist, advocating state ownership of the means of industrial production and the redistribution of agricultural land (in practice, Syria's nominally socialist economy is effectively a mixed economy, composed of large state enterprises and private small businesses), and revolutionary, dedicated to carrying a pan-Arab revolution to every part of the Arab world. Founded byMichel Aflaq, a SyrianChristian,Salah al-Din al-Bitar, a SyrianSunni, andZaki al-Arsuzi, analawite, theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party, which was dissolved in 1966 following the1966 Syrian coup d'état which led to the establishment of oneIraqi-dominated ba'ath movement and oneSyrian-led ba'ath movement. The party embraces secularism and has attracted supporters of all faiths in many Arab countries, especially Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon.
Six smaller political parties are permitted to exist and, along with the Ba'ath Party, make up theNational Progressive Front (NPF), a grouping of parties that represents the sole framework of legal political party participation for citizens. While created ostensibly to give the appearance of a multi-party system, the NPF is dominated by the Ba'ath Party and does not change the essentially one-party character of the political system. Non-Ba'ath Party members of the NPF exist as political parties largely in name only and conform strictly to Ba'ath Party and government policies. There were reports in 2000 that the government was considering legislation to expand the NPF to include new parties and several parties previously banned; these changes have not taken place. However, one such party- theSyrian Social Nationalist Party- was legalised in 2005.
Traditionally, the parties of the NPF accepted the Arab nationalist and nominally socialist ideology of the government. However, the SSNP was the first party that is neither socialist nor Arab nationalist in orientation to be legalised and admitted to the NPF. This has given rise to suggestions[by whom?] that broader ideological perspectives would be afforded some degree of toleration in the future, but this did not occur: ethnically-based (Kurdish and Assyrian) parties continue to be repressed, most opposition parties are illegal, and a strict ban on religious parties is still enforced.
Syria's Emergency Law was in force from 1963, when the Ba'ath Party came to power, until 21 April 2011 when it was rescinded by Bashar al-Assad (decree 161). The law, justified on the grounds of the continuing war withIsrael and the threats posed by terrorists, suspended most constitutional protections.[13][18]
The previousSyrian constitution of 1973 vested theBa'ath Party (formally the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party) with leadership functions in the state and society and provided broad powers to the president. Thepresident, approved byreferendum for a 7-year term, was also Secretary General of the Ba'ath Party and leader of theNational Progressive Front. During the2011–2012 Syrian uprising, anew constitution was put toa referendum. Amongst other changes, it abolished the old article 8 which entrenched the power of the Ba'ath party. The new article 8 reads: "The political system of the state shall be based on the principle of political pluralism, and exercising power democratically through the ballot box".[19] In a new article 88, it introduced presidential elections and limited the term of office for the president to seven years with a maximum of one re-election.[20] The referendum resulted in the adoption of the new constitution, which came into force on 27 February 2012.[21] The president has the right to appoint ministers (Council of Ministers), to declare war and states of emergency, to issue laws (which, except in the case of emergency, require ratification by thePeople's Council), to declare amnesty, to amend the constitution, and to appointcivil servants andmilitary personnel.
Along with theNational Progressive Front, the president decides issues of war and peace and approves the state's 5-year economic plans. The National Progressive Front also acts as a forum in which economic policies are debated and the country's political orientation is determined.
The Syrian constitution of 2012 requires that the president be Muslim but does not makeIslam the state religion. The judicial system in Syria is an amalgam ofOttoman,French, and Islamic laws, with three levels of courts: courts of first instance,courts of appeals, and the constitutional court, the highest tribunal. In addition, religious courts handle questions of personal andfamily law. The Ba'ath Party emphasizesArab socialism and secularPan-Arabism. Despite the Ba'ath Party's doctrine on building national rather thanethnic identity, the issues of ethnic, religious, and regional allegiances still remain important in Syria.
Political system of theAssad regime has been characterized as a hybrid ofabsolute monarchy and republic.[22][23] Syrian security apparatus and the dreaded secret police are instrumentalized by the regime to instill terror among ordinary citizens to prevent critique of thePresident or organize demonstrations. Political dissidentsRiad al-Turk andSuheir Atassi have describedBa'athist Syria as a "Kingdom of Silence" which maintains monopoly over political discourse by seeking the total de-politicization of the society itself.[24][25]
All registered political parties in Syria were participants within theAssadist system, that proclaims its loyalty to the ruling Ba'ath party and are stipulated by the government to advance the interests of theBa'athist state. Registered parties are constantly surveilled and regulated by theBa'athist Political Security Directorate (PSD), and were permitted to operate only under the directives issued by the PSD.[26]
The last parliamentary election was on 15 July 2024 and the results were announced on 18 July.[27]
| Party or alliance | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Progressive Front | Ba'ath Party | 169 | ||
| Syrian Social Nationalist Party | 3 | |||
| Arab Socialist Union Party | 2 | |||
| Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash) | 2 | |||
| National Covenant Party | 2 | |||
| Socialist Unionist Party | 2 | |||
| Arab Democratic Union Party | 2 | |||
| Syrian Communist Party (Unified) | 2 | |||
| Democratic Socialist Unionist Party | 1 | |||
| Independents | 65 | |||
| Total | 250 | |||
| Source: Middle East Institute[27] | ||||
Government type presidential republic
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2022) |
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