Book reviews
Democratic transformation... Syria as an example:
a new book that addresses
a post-Assad era
(book reviewed: ‘Democratic transformation…Syria as an example’,
by Radwan Ziadeh, 230 pages, Al-Rayis publishing house, 2013)
Starting in 2007, this book was written
over the course of 5 years, before the
beginning of any protests in Syria that rapidly
developed into military clashes. The author
discusses democratic transformation tracing
its development from Southern to Eastern
Europe, travelling to Latin America, before
reaching the Arab world after twenty years. He
claims that he witnessed this transformation
through his travels to more than fifty countries
in which he was introduced to each country’s
transformative experience. The author argues
that the only way for Syria to progress after
the fall of the regime is through ‘national
reconciliation’ which requires leaving behind
the heavy past towards embracing the
future. Ziadah contends that this will require
a dual task for Syrians after the war is over:
working to restore the Republic from the
inherited kingdom, recreating a democracy in
the defeat of more than half a century, and
the introduction of basic understandings of
freedom.
By: Abd Al-Haj
Delta-N Journal
Summary Edition - June 2014
11