CONTENTS Preface Page Xv List of Abbreviations Xvii Introduction 1 1

Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-18360-5 — Syria, the Strength of an Idea Karim Atassi Table of Contents More Information vii

CONTENTS

Preface page xv List of Abbreviations xvii

I n t r o d u c t i o n 1

1 h e Syrian Question 10 1.1 Ibrahim Pasha’s Syria 12 1.2 h e Lessons of Ibrahim Pasha’s Syrian Campaign 17 1.3 A Wasted Opportunity to Create an Independent Syria 21 1.4 h e Gradual Assertion of a National Identity 23 1.4.1 h e Arab Nahda 2 3 1.4.2 h e 1913 Arab Congress in Paris 26 1.5 h e 1915 Damascus Protocol 28 1.5.1 Arab Nationalists in Damascus 30 1.5.2 From Decentralization to Independence 30

Part I Parliamentary Constitutions and Liberal Regimes 35 2 h e Syrian Monarchy 37 2.1 h e Establishment of an Arab Authority in Damascus 38 2.1.1 Faysal, an Arab Sovereign 39 2.1.2 An Arab Government 41 2.1.3 Internal Political Life and the Construction of the State 44 2.1.4 h e Christian and Jewish Authorities’ Allegiance to Faysal 45 2.2 Foreign Policy under the Monarchy 46 2.2.1 h e Dif ering Interpretations of the 1915–1916 Hussein–McMahon Correspondence 46 2.2.2 h e Sykes– Picot Agreement 49 2.2.3 h e Revision of the Sykes–Picot Agreement 52

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2.2.4 h e Faysal– Weizmann Agreement 55 2.2.5 h e Faysal– Clemenceau Agreement 57 2.3 h e General Syrian Congress 59 2.3.1 h e Origin of the Congress 59 2.3.2 h e Election of the Members of the Congress 60 2.3.3 h e Functions of the Congress 61 2.4 h e Damascus Programme 62 2.5 Independence and Proclamation of Faysal as King of Syria in 1920 65 2.6 h e 1920 Constitution 69 2.6.1 h e Drat ing of the 1920 Constitution 69 2.6.2 Analysis of the 1920 Constitution 71 2.7 h e End of the Arab Kingdom of Syria 80 3 h e First Republic 84 3.1 h e French Mandate 86 3.2 Artii cial Nations 88 3.2.1 Early Military and Political Resistance to the Mandate 89 3.2.2 h e Partial Piecing Together of Syria 90 3.2.3 h e Great Revolt and the Assertion of National Will 92 3.3 h e Fight for the 1928 Constitution 96 3.3.1 h e 1926 Partial Elections 96 3.3.2 h e Ahmad Nami Government’s Ten Points 98 3.3.3 h e 1928 Elections 99 3.4 h e 1928 Constitution as an Instrument for National Liberation 101 3.4.1 h e National Question 102 3.4.2 Legislative Power 104 3.4.3 h e Executive 105 3.4.4 France’s Objections 108 3.5 h e Fight for the Franco-Syrian Treaty to Supersede the Mandate 109 3.5.1 h e 1931– 1932 Elections 109 3.5.2 h e Assembly of Deputies and the Election of the President of the Republic in 1932 111 3.5.3 h e Beginning of Negotiations on the 1932 Franco-Syrian Treaty 112 3.5.4 h e 1933 Version of the Franco-Syrian Treaty 114 3.5.5 h e 1936 General Strike 116

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3.6 h e 1936 Franco-Syrian Treaty 118 3.7 h e Era of National Institutions 1936–1939 121 3.7.1 h e 1936 Elections 122 3.7.2 Growing Dangers 122 3.7.3 h e Sanjak of Alexandretta Crisis 124 3.7.4 Institutional Crises and the End of the National Era in 1939 128 3.8 h e Institutions during the Second World War (1940– 1945) 132 3.8.1 h e Fratricidal War between Vichyists and Gaullists 133 3.8.2 h e 1943 Elections and the Restoration of the Constitution and Institutions 136 3.9 h e Dii cult End to the Mandate 137 3.10 France’s Legacy 142 3.11 From Independence to the Fall of the First Republic 143 3.11.1 h e Splitting of the National Bloc 144 3.11.2 h e 1947 Legislative Elections 146 3.11.3 h e 1948 Revision of the Constitution 148 3.11.4 h e Ef ects of the Palestine War 150 4 h e Second Republic 153 4.1 h e Advent of the Second Republic 155 4.1.1 h e First Coup d’Etat 156 4.1.2 h e Constitutional Referendum 159 4.1.3 h e 1949 Drat Constitution 160 4.1.4 Domestic and Regional Policy of Husni Al-Zaim’s Regime 163 4.1.5 h e Second Coup d’Etat 165 4.2 h e Regional Question during the First Phase of the Second Republic (1949– 1951) 167 4.2.1 h e Election of the Constituent Assembly 168 4.2.2 h e 1949 Provisional Constitution 170 4.2.3 h e h ird Military Coup 171 4.2.4 h e Uneasy Cohabitation of Military and Civilian Authorities 172 4.2.5 Government Appointments and Resignations 174 4.3 h e 1950 Constitution 179 4.3.1 h e Social Question: Towards a Welfare State? 179 4.3.2 h e National Question 184 4.3.3 Sovereignty 185

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4.3.4 Legislative Power 186 4.3.5 Executive Power 188 4.3.6 h e Judiciary 191 4.4 Return to the Regional Question during the Second Phase of the Second Republic (1954–1958) 192 4.4.1 h e 1954 Legislative Elections 193 4.4.2 h e Second Legislature of the Second Republic 195 4.4.3 h e Second Presidency under the Second Republic 198 4.4.4 h e March Towards Union with Egypt 200 4.5 h e Social Question during the h ird Phase of the Second Republic (1961–1963) 203 4.5.1 h e Coup of 28 September 1961 203 4.5.2 h e Legitimization of Power 204 4.5.3 h e Social Compact 206 4.5.4 h e 1961 Provisional Constitution 208 4.5.5 h e Election of the Assembly and President 210 4.5.6 h e National Security Council 211 4.5.7 h e Coup of 28 March 1962 212 4.6 h e 1962 Constitution – An Emergency Constitution 215 4.6.1 h e Adoption of the 1962 Constitution 217 4.6.2 h e Meeting of the Assembly Outside the Chamber 218 4.7 h e Fall of the Second Republic 220

Part II Presidential Constitutions and Authoritarian Regimes 223 5 h e h ird Republic 225 5.1 Establishing the Regime 226 5.1.1 h e Military Republic 227 5.1.2 h e Regime’s Ideological Foundations 229 5.2 h e 1953 Presidential- style Constitution 231 5.2.1 Democratic Guarantees 233 5.2.2 h e Organization of National Wealth 236 5.2.3 Legislative Authority 237 5.2.4 h e Executive 241 5.3 h e End of the Regime 244 5.3.1 h e Constitutional and Presidential Referendum 245 5.3.2 h e Electoral Law 246 5.3.3 h e Legislative Elections 247 5.3.4 h e Regime Crisis 248

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6 h e Fourth Republic 252 6.1 h e Revolution of 8 March 1963 and the Coming to Power of the Ba’th 255 6.1.1 h e Founding of the Regime 256 6.1.2 Legitimization of the New Order by Arab Nationalism and Socialism 259 6.1.3 h e Ba’thist Governments 263 6.1.4 Political Life within the Ba’th between 1963 and 1966 265 6.1.5 h e 1964 Provisional Constitution and Collegiate Rule 270 6.1.6 h e End of the Regime of 8 March 1963 277 6.2 h e Neo-Ba’th Seizure of Power and the Radicalization of the Revolution (1966–1970) 281 6.2.1 h e Constitutional Arrangement of February 1966 281 6.2.2 Political Life under the Neo-Ba’th 283 6.2.3 h e 1969 Provisional Constitution and the Institutionalization of the Ba’th 290 6.2.4 h e End of the Neo- Ba’th Regime 296 6.3 h e ‘Corrective Movement’ and the Institutionalization of the Revolution (1970–2000) 299 6.3.1 h e 1971 Provisional Constitution and the Legitimization of the Regime 299 6.3.2 h e Reorganization of Political Life 304 6.3.3 h e 1973 Constitution 308 6.3.4 Political Stability and the Final Challenges to Hafez Assad’s Power 318 6.3.5 h e Assad System 325 7 h e Pan- Arab Constitutions 338 7.1 h e 1958 Constitution of the United Arab Republic (Syria and Egypt) 339 7.2 h e 1963 Charter of the United Arab Republic (Syria, Egypt, and Iraq) 344 7.3 h e 1971 Constitution of the Federation of Arab Republics (Syria, Egypt, and Libya) 348 8 Towards the Fit h Republic 354 8.1 h e Settling in of the New President and the Announcement of Reforms 356 8.2 h e Plans for Political Reform during the Damascus S p r i n g 3 5 8

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8.2.1 h e Statement of 99 359 8.2.2 h e Statement of 1000 360 8.2.3 h e Social and National Charter 361 8.2.4 h e Damascus Declaration 362 8.2.5 h e National Salvation Front Project 363 8.3 From Partial Reforms to Revision of Ba’th Economic Doctrine 365 8.4 Interpretations of the Ba’th Trilogy 367 8.4.1 h e First Interpretation (1947– 1963) 369 8.4.2 h e Second Interpretation (1963– 1970) 372 8.4.3 h e h ird Interpretation (1970–2005) 375 8.4.4 h e Fourth Interpretation (2005) 376 8.5 h e Missed Opportunity to Reform the Political System in 2006– 2007 378 8.6 h e Crisis of March 2011 381 8.7 h e 2012 Constitution or Continuity in the Midst of Change 386 8.7.1 Title I: ‘Basic Principles’ 387 8.7.2 Title II: ‘Rights, Freedom, and the Rule of Law’ 394 8.7.3 Title III: ‘State Authorities’ 398 8.7.4 Title IV: ‘h e Supreme Constitutional Court’ 405 8.7.5 Title V: ‘Amending the Constitution’ 407 8.8 h e 2011 Laws on Elections, Political Parties, and the 2012 Legislative Elections 408 8.9 h e New Electoral Law and the 2014 Presidential Election 412 8.10 h e 2016 Legislative Elections 418 8.11 h e Drat Constitutions Proposed by the Opposition 419 8.11.1 h e Syrian Reform Party’s 2006 Drat Constitution 419 8.11.2 Anwar Buni’s 2011 Drat Constitution 424 8.11.3 h e Labwani– Muqdad Drat Constitution of 2011 426 8.12 What National Compact for Syria? 429 9 Towards the Sixth Republic 434 9.1 h e Search for a Unifying Political Project 437 9.1.1 h e Cairo 1 and 2 Opposition Meetings 437 9.1.2 h e Moscow 1 and 2 Consultative Meetings 441 9.1.3 h e Vienna 1 and 2 Conferences 443

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9.1.4 h e UNSCR 2254 445 9.2 h e Search for a Constitutional Formula 446 9.2.1 h e Carter Center’s Proposed Revision of the 2012 Constitution 447 9.2.2 h e Carter Center’s Suggested Provisional Constitution 450 9.2.3 Russia’s Constitutional Proposal 451 9.2.4 h e 2015 Iranian Initiative 454 9.3 h e Search for Post-war Partners 455 9.3.1 h e Joint Military Council 455 9.3.2 h e Moderate Armed Groups 456 9.3.3 h e Kurdish Component 458

Conclusion: Return to the Syrian Question 462

Annex: Summary Table of Constitutional Architectures 470 A r a b i c B i b l i o g r a p h y 472 French and English Bibliography 478 I n d e x 483