CENTCOM Battle Knowledge Centers

This volume explores the ways in which Asad's domestic and foreign policy strategies during his first decade in power safeguarded his rule and adapted Syria to the age of globalization. The volume's contributors examine multiple aspects of Asad's rule in the 2000s, from power consolidation within the party and control of the opposition to economic reform, co-opting new private charities, and coping with Iraqi refugees.

Based on first-hand reporting from Syria and Washington, journalist Reese Erlich unravels the complex dynamics underlying the Syrian civil war. Through vivid, on-the-ground accounts and interviews with both rebel leaders and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Erlich gives the reader a better understanding of this momentous power struggle and why it matters.

Exploring both the historical origins of Syria's religious sects and their present-day dominance of the Syrian social scene, The Religious Roots of the Syrian Conflict identifies these groups' distinct beliefs and relates how the actions of the religious authorities and political entrepreneurs acting on behalf of their particular sects expose them to sectarian violence, culminating in the dissolution of the nation-state.