Creating Consent in Baʿthist Syria: Women and Welfare in a Totalitarian State

This book is an important contribution to our knowledge of modern contemporary Syria. More specifically,itexamines the way in which the power and durability of the ruling elite in any state is based on "consent" even in totalitarian systems such as the Baʿ th Party ruling Syria. The author reveals how the Baʿ th state used coercion but also sought the consent of its public -m any from the notable class of the pre-Baʿ thi Revolution in the 1960s -i no rder to establish mass organisations to ameliorate the conditions of women and children. Although organised around the General Union of Syrian Women, the book offers adetailed history and contemporary analysis of the roots of Syrian women's engagement with welfare and development provision in the country as a whole. This research is well-documented, highly readable and makes a significant and long overdue contribution to our knowledge of the modern Syrian state as well as the role of women within it. It is a promising work which will appeal to anumber of disciplinary specialists in Middle Eastern Studies, Political Theory,W omen and Development literature and those studying Syria and Syrian society.' Dawn Chatty,P rofessor of Anthropology and Forced Migration, University of Oxford 'This valuable and meticulously researched study sheds light on the role of the Union of Syrian Women in shoring up support for the country's Baʿ th regime between 1967 and 2008. The role of Baʿ thist popular organisations in contributing to the resilience of Syria'sa uthoritarian regime is under-researched and the Women'sUnion in particular is little known outside of Arabic-language scholarship. Meininghaus explores processes of negotiating and fostering political consent at the heart of Baʿ thist Syria and opens up new research questions by bringing gender into the question of regime survival.' "The challenge of maintaining dictatorial regimes through control, co-option and coercion while upholding a facade of legitimacy is something that has concerned leaders throughout the Middle East and beyond. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Syria ruled by the Asads, both Hafiz and his son Bashar. Drawing on the example of the General Union of Syrian Women (founded in 1967), Esther Meininghaus offers new insights into how the Syrian Ba'thist regimes attempted to move beyond mere satisfaction with the compliance of the citizenry and to consolidate their rule amongst the local population. Meininghaus argues that this was partially achieved through providing welfare services delivered by the Union as one of the state-led mass organisations. In this way, she suggests, these regimes did not only aim to undermine opposition and to create the illusion of consent, but they factually catered to local needs and depended on consent. Based on archival material, interviews and statistics, Creating Consent in Ba'thist Syria will shed new light on mass organisations as a crucial institution of Ba'thist state building and, more broadly, the construction of the Asad regimes."--Bloomsbury Publishing Cover Author bio Endorsement Title Copyright Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Roots of Women's Educational, Social and Political Engagement in Syria 2. Mass Organisations in Baʿthist State Building and the Establishment of the Union 3. Union Membership and Mobilisation (1967–2008) 4. Reaching out to Every Woman 5. Administration of Union Membership and Activities Conclusion Appendix A Maps Appendix B Tables and Diagrams Appendix C CEDAW Convention (Excerpts) Appendix D List of Women’s Societies in Syria before 1967 Notes Bibliography Index