As Bashar al-Asad rescinds emergency rule in the face of demonstrations and protests, Syria finds itself in a key position in a Middle East beset by regional tensions, the repercussions of the global ""war on terror"" and popular uprisings. The bloodless coup by General Hafez al-Assad, in 1970, put in place a powerful autocratic machinery at the core of the state which continues today under the control of his son Bashar. Here, Radwan Ziadeh presents a fresh and penetrating analysis of Syria's political structure - a ""despotic"" state monopoly, a bureaucratic climate marked by fear, and the...