A masterly study of Syrian politics in the Asad era, written with insight and feeling. Difficult to imagine it will ever be bettered. Roger Owen, Harvard University Dr Radwan Ziadeh provides us with a thorough analysis of Syrian internal power dynamics. His study contains valuable observations of an insider on the Syrian democracy movement and gives an extensive analysis of Syrian foreign policy. Nikolaos van Dam, author of The Struggle for Power in Syria: Sectarianism, Regionalism and Tribalism in Politics (1961-80), ambassador of The Netherlands to Indonesia and former ambassador to Egypt and Syria Radwan Ziadeh brings unique qualifications to this superb study of contemporary Syrian politics. As a scholar-activist, he captures the internal workings of Syria's reform movements with nuance, detail and insight that are unmatched, bringing to life political currents and trends in Syria that are often opaque to outsiders. This is an important work. It deserves to be widely read. Steven Heydemann, Vice President of the United States Institute of Peace, and author of Authoritarianism in Syria This is both an insider's account of the political awakening in Syria at the beginning of this century, and a sober, intelligent analysis of political structures and developments under Bashar al-Asad's rule. Volker Perthes, Director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and author of The Political Economy of Syria under Asad Dr Ziadeh analyses the major issues and developments under the rule of Bashar al-Asad, including the challenges of political and economic reforms, Islamic movements, civil society, as well as Syria's foreign policy towards the peace process. 'Power and Policy in Syria' will be a valuable contribution to understanding the politics of neo-liberal regime of Bashar al-Asad. It will be of interest to Middle East scholars, students of the politics of developing nations, as well as the growing number of readers trying to make sense of the freedom deficit in this crucial region. Najib Ghadbian, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas, and author of Democratization and the Islamist Challenge in the Arab World