Syria and US

[Name of the institute]Syria and US

Introduction

Officially, Syria is a parliamentary republic. However, if we analyze the status of Syria from the lens of practicality then it would be revealed to us that it is a military dominated country that is headed by the President of the country. The country declared as independent from the power of France in 1946 and since then the country is facing political stability. It was between the period of 1958 to 1961 when for a short period Syria united with Egypt. After a short while this unity broke as a result of army coup which usurped the control related to administration. Later, the Baath party in 1963 took the control (DataMonitor, 2012).

According to the constitution of Syria, the Arab Socialist Baath Party leads the Syrian society and the state. It also states that the president of Syria must be a member of this party. The Baath Party is the largest political party in Syria and, along with other smaller parties that support it, has formed a coalition known as the National Progressive Front (NPF). The executive in Syria presides over the legislative and judiciary (DataMonitor, 2012).

Syria was a part of the Ottoman Empire until after World War I (1914-18). Following the war, France was given a mandate a legal directive to administer a particular territory by the newly formed League of Nations. In accordance with that mandate, France fought and defeated the forces of Faisal bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi, who had been attempting to establish an independent Syrian state since the end of the war and who ruled the nation briefly as king in 1920. In April 1946, France, complying with a U.N. resolution, withdrew from the country, leaving Syria to become an independent nation. Syria's political climate remained unstable, however, particularly after 1949, when the nation experienced its first military coup. Two years later, Colonel Adib al-Shishakli succeeded in establishing himself as the head of a military government, but he was ousted in another coup in 1954. Civilian leaders from the Arab nationalist and socialist movements took over, but the government remained weak. Hoping to secure political stability, Syria merged with Egypt on February 21, 1958, to form the United Arab Republic (UAR), which was ruled by the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The UAR lasted until 1961, when Syria, after a coup staged by the Muslim Brotherhood on September 28, seceded and established the Syrian Arab Republic (Warren, 2005).

Political instability during the following eighteen months allowed the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party, or Baath Party, to take control of the executive and legislative branches of the Syrian government in 1963. The Baathists, with their essentially secular ideology, remained fractured until 1970, when a coup within the party brought minister of defense Hafez al-Assad to power (Robin, 2005).

U.S. relations with the Middle Eastern nation of Syria have long been marked by tension and hostility. Since 1979, the U.S. has included Syria on its annual list of state sponsors of terrorism, accusing ...