SOVIET POLICY TOWARD SYRIA AND THE LESSONS OF EGYPT.
Item
-
Title
-
SOVIET POLICY TOWARD SYRIA AND THE LESSONS OF EGYPT.
-
Identifier
-
AAI8713749
-
identifier
-
8713749
-
Creator
-
CHANIS, JONATHAN ABRAHAM.
-
Contributor
-
Dankwart Rustow
-
Date
-
1987
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Political Science, International Law and Relations
-
Abstract
-
The Soviet Union has a poor record of consolidating allied and client relationships. The failures in China, Yugoslavia, Egypt, and elsewhere reveal a marked Soviet inability to persuade and non-violently manipulate other states' elites. Of all these failures, the one in Egypt (1955-1972) is among the most interesting.;In order to minimize inter-elite friction over Soviet military, political, and economic policies, and to satisfy domestic political needs, the Soviet leadership sought to control the Egyptian elite. Hence, the concerted attempt to penetrate Egypt's political processes and to "transform" the country by creating a vanguard party from within the Arab Socialist Union.;The failure in Egypt represented the culmination of a distinct set of Soviet consolidation policies and techniques, and displayed the problems inherent in a heavy-handed attempt to dominate others. In response to this and several other failures, the Soviet Union began to modify its consolidation strategy and pursue a more sophisticated policy. This was particularly evident in Soviet policy toward Syria.;Subsequent policy toward Syria reveals a more realistic appraisal of that state's revolutionary potential, an improved handling of the inter-elite relationship, and a more patient strategy. Specifically, the Soviet Union takes advantage of transitory Syrian weaknesses to extract concessions and to penetrate the Al-Assad regime.;Through manipulation of these cycles of Syrian vulnerability the Soviet Union has created a marked Syrian dependency on Soviet military, political and economic assistance. While this dependency does not ensure the durability of the Soviet presence nor provide it with control of Syrian policies, it does present opportunities for long term Soviet gains, as well as limitedly constrain Syrian policy options.;The primary sources for this project are the memoirs of Western and Arab participants; Russian language material, especially the relevant academic literature; and neglected statistical information on the bilateral relationships.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Political Science
