Class and State Capitalism in Syria

Abstract

This chapter explores, from a class-based perspective, Syria’s journey first to a state-controlled or state-capitalist economic model during the Ba’athist regime of the 1960s, and later, to the market-oriented economic structure during the Hafiz Assad regime, starting in the late 1980s. It traces the origins of various social classes, the Ba’ath political party, and the Muslim Brotherhood.