Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics / / Hanna Batatu.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Archive 1927-1999
• VerfasserIn: Batatu, Hanna,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2012]; ©1999
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Edition: Core Textbook
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (432 p.) :; 56 tables

In this book, the distinguished scholar Hanna Batatu presents a comprehensive analysis of the recent social, economic, and political evolution of Syria's peasantry, the segment of society from which the current holders of political power stem. Batatu focuses mainly on the twentieth century and, in particular, on the Ba`th movement, the structures of power after the military coup d'état of 1963, and the era of îvfiz al-Asad, Syria's first ruler of peasant extraction. Without seeking to prove any single theory about Syrian life, he offers a uniquely rich and detailed account of how power was transferred from one demographic group to another and how that power is maintained today. Batatu begins by examining social differences among Syria's peasants and the evolution of their mode of life and economic circumstances. He then scrutinizes the peasants' forms of consciousness, organization, and behavior in Ottoman and Mandate times and prior to the Ba`thists' rise to power. He explores the rural aspects of Ba`thism and shows that it was not a single force but a plurality of interrelated groups--prominent among them the descendants of the lesser rural notables--with different social goals and mental horizons. The book also provides a perceptive account of President Asad, his personality and conduct, and the characteristics and power structures of his regime. Batatu draws throughout on a wide range of socioeconomic and biographical information and on personal interviews with Syrian peasants and political leaders, offering invaluable insights into the complexities of a country and a regime that have long been poorly understood by outsiders.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- TABLES -- PREFACE -- PART I: THE PEASANTS' SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS -- CHAPTER 1. The Role of Demographics -- CHAPTER 2. Differentiations -- CHAPTER 3. Living Conditions -- CHAPTER 4. Economic Efficiency -- PART II: THE PRE-BAՙTH PATTERNS OF PEASANT CONSCIOUSNESS, ORGANIZATION, AND POLITICAL BEHAVIOR -- CHAPTER 5. Introduction: Portraits of Peasants by Ibn Khaldūn, Balzac, Trotsky, Father Ayrout, and J. C. Scott, and Their Relevance -- CHAPTER 6. The First Peasant Organizations or the Corporations of Peasant-gardeners from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century -- CHAPTER 7. Sūfism among the Peasants: A Source of Political Quietism? -- CHAPTER 8. The Proneness in Ottoman and Mandate Times of the Peasant Mountaineers to Rebellion and of the Peasants of the Open Plains to Indirect Methods of Defense -- CHAPTER 9. The Communists and the Peasants -- CHAPTER 10. The Arab Socialists, or the First Agrarian Party in Syria's History -- PART III: THE RURAL AND PEASANT ASPECTS OF BAՙTHISM -- CHAPTER 11. The Old Ba'th and the Political Rearing of a Rural Intelligentsia -- CHAPTER 12. The "Transitional" Baՙth or the Baՙth of the 1960s, the Rise of the Lesser Rural or Village Notability, and the Ruralization of the Army, the Party, and, to Some Degree, the State Bureaucracy -- CHAPTER 13. The Post-1970 Asad-molded, Career-oriented Ba'th -- PART IV: ḤĀFIZ AL-ASAD, OR SYRIA'S FIRST RULER OF PEASANT EXTRACTION -- CHAPTER 14. Asad's Background, Early Education, Party Apprenticeship, and First Political Battle -- CHAPTER 15. Asad's Military Career and Military Qualifications, or the Inferences as to His Generalship Deducible from His Performance in the 1967 and 1973 Wars and during Israel's Invasion of Lebanon -- CHAPTER 16. The Varied Aspects of Power in Asad's State -- CHAPTER 17. Focusing for a While on the More Subtle Forms of Power -- CHAPTER 18. The Organization of Power at the Second Tier of Asad's Polity and Its Partaking, among Other Features, of a Basic Trait of Peasant Life -- CHAPTER 19. A Glance at the Third Level of Power or at the Composition of the Upper Elite of the Baՙth Party (1970-1997) -- CHAPTER 20. Shifting the Focus to the Fourth Level of Power, or an Analysis, by Way of Illustration, of the Role of the Peasants' General Union, the Party's Principal Ancillary Mass Organization -- CHAPTER 21. A Closer View of the Summit of Power, or Asad's Personality as a Factor in the Maintenance of His Rule and the Thwarting of His Opponents -- CHAPTER 22. Of the Manner in Which Asad Dealt with the Muslim Brethren and their Militants, and the Light It Throws on the Methods by Which He Holds Sway -- CHAPTER 23. Asad's Main Concepts at the Level of Regional Politics: Ends or Instruments? -- CHAPTER 24. An In-depth Study of Asad's Relations with Fatՙh and the P.L.O. from 1966 to 1997 and the Light It Sheds on His Aims and Techniques -- CHAPTER 25. Epilogue -- APPENDIX -- NOTES -- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX I: SUBJECTS -- INDEX II: PERSONAL NAMES -- INDEX III: NAMES OF FAMILIES AND TRIBES