Syria

Introduction

World Factbook: "Following World War I, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman Empire province of Syria. The French administered the area as Syria until granting it independence in 1946. The new country lacked political stability, however, and experienced a series of military coups during its first decades."

Wealth and National Well-Being

Country Comparisons: chart

World Factbook: "After modest economic reform in recent years, Syria's economy suffered the effects of political unrest and violence in 2011. Economic growth slowed because of international sanctions and reduced domestic consumption and production. Prior to the unrest, Damascus had cut lending interest rates, opened private banks, consolidated multiple exchange rates, raised prices on some subsidized items, and established the Damascus Stock Exchange, which began operations in 2009. The economy remains highly regulated by the government, which has increased subsidies and tightened trade controls to assuage protesters and protect foreign currency reserves. Long-run economic constraints include foreign trade barriers, declining oil production, high unemployment, rising budget deficits, and increasing pressure on water supplies caused by heavy use in agriculture, rapid population growth, industrial expansion, and water pollution."

March 31, 2011: Lahcen Achy of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut descibes growing desiccation contributing to a 25% decline in Syria's agricultural output, with people leaving for the city and the poverty rate in Syria's urban southern region doubling during the previous five years. He writes also of cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, a lack of transparent regulations and widespread corruption. He writes of income inequality in Syria increasing in the previous decade. Arcy describes Syria's economic challenges as "feeding the population's growing anger."

Economic growth rate:
2011: -2%
2010: 3.2%

export/ import ratio
2011: exports 91.7% of imports in cash value – an unfavorable balance.
2010: exports 94.6% of imports

Unemployment rate
2011: 8.1%
2010: 8.3%
2009: 9.2%
2008:12.6%

Exports "crude oil, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat."

Oil production
2010: 401,000 barrels per day (Ranks 34th in the world). Consumes roughly 73% of what it produces.

Exports partners
2010: Iraq 30%, Lebanon 11.7%, Germany 8.8%, Italy 8.8%, Saudi Arabia 5%

Import partners
2010 Saudi Arabia 11.2%, China 10.1%, Turkey 7.6%, UAE 5.5%, Italy 5.5%, Russia 4.6%, Lebanon 4.4%, Egypt 4.3%, Iran 4%, South Korea 4%

People

Living in an urban area
2010: 56%, up from 54% in 2008

Net migration rate
2012: More leaving than arriving, a loss of 28 persons per 1,000.

Males 86%
Females 73.6%

Ethnic groups
Arabs 90.3%; Kurds, Armenians, and others 9.7%

Religions
Sunni Muslim 74%, Alawite, Druze, and other Muslim sects 16%, Christians 10%, a few Jews in Damascus, Al Qamisli and Aleppo.

Birth rate
Estimate for 2012: 23.52 per thousand – 22,530,746/1000 equals an average of 1,421.8 per day. This is lower than Syria's birth rate in recent years. In the year 2000 it was around 31 per thousand. Divide out 25% as Assad supporters and this produces 1,066. Consider that more were being born 15 years ago and minimize the 1,066 number by 20% for the sake of conservatism and kids not having survived to 15 (infant mortality runs around 1.5%) and we have 853. This is rough conservative estimation of the number of anti-Assad persons coming of age every day.

Health expenditures
2009: 2.9% (ranks near the bottom: 180th in the world)

Geography

South of Turkey. West of Iraq. 193 kilometers of coastline along the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Equivalent to 430 by 430 kilometers. Mostly desert.

Government

Chief of state: Bashar al-Assad (president) since 17 July 2000, Alawi Shia Islam, Ba'ath Party. Head of government: Wael Nader Al-Halqi (prime minister, appointed) since 11 August 2012, Sunni Muslim, Ba'ath Party.

The Syrian government has been described as a hereditary dictatorship. It is a one-party state – the Baath Party.

There is a parliament, the People's Council, Majlis al-Shaab, 280 seats, chosen by popular vote for four-year terms. Parliament is controlled by the Baath Party, Syria's only leagal political party.

Capital: Damascus.

Recent History

In 1946, Syria acquired Independence from French rule.

Since 1967, all schools, colleges, and universities have been under close government supervision by the Baath Party. Bashar's father was leader of the Baath Party.

July 2000, Bashar al-Assad, following the death of his father, is chosen President by national referendum. He ran unopposed.

Aug 2001, The Damascus Spring ends. Bashar al-Assad had promised reforms. Prominent intellectuals in the "Manifesto of the 99" had called for the cancellation of the state of emergency, the abolition of martial law and special courts, the release of all political prisoners, and the right to form political parties and civil organisations. Bashar's brother, Maher, has persuaded his brother to crack down. The "Damascus Spring" comes to an end with the arrest of Mamun al Homsi, a legislator representing Damascus, after he launches a hunger strike in opposition to corruption.

May 2006: Judging from quotes in an article in the New Yorker, by Lawrence Wright, Syria has a huge army of secret police, "a complete absence of legal protections," and one "can go to jail for thirty-five years and nobody will ask about you."

March 25 2011. When political upheaval erupted in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year, a few teenagers in Syria spray-painted slogans that the police didn't like. These youths were treated brutally, and this sparked some expressions of discontent, which were also handled with brutality. The government was making matters worse for itself and making what Hannah Arendt wrote seemingly true: that a government weakens itself by using violence against its own people. The killing of one demonstrator was followed by larger demonstrations and more deaths, culminating in today's massive demonstrations across Syria, with security forces again firing on demonstrators, creating more martyrs for the uprising.

On the side of the government are people who benefit economically from patronage with the Baath Party – a so-called socialist party – and there are families of people in civil service, the military and security forces.

March 31, 2011: Lahcen Achy, a resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, suggests that economic challenges are contributing to a growing anger among Syrians. He writes that Syria's "poverty rate remains high, with one out of every three Syrians living below the poverty line, and social and regional inequalities are increasing. The social contract that prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s – in which the state guaranteed jobs to college graduates and offered free public services and cheap food for its population – no longer holds."

April 19, 2011: Assad announces that Syria is ending emergency rule.

April 22, 2011: Syrian security forces fire bullets and tear gas at tens of thousands of protesters across the country. At least 75 people are killed on the bloodiest day of the uprising.

May 2, 2011: Last week hundreds of members of the ruling Baath Party resigned. The Baath party was weakened before this, while "business deals and corruption took over" as a means by Bashar Assad to consolidate power. "It's very much about family solidarity, not anymore just about maintaining Alawite rule," said the Syrian dissident, Ammar Abdulhamid. He adds,."Power is totally concentrated in the hands of the family." Assad's British born wife, Asma, as first lady has "caused tension within the Assad family, particularly with the president's sister Boushra and his mother Anisseh, who cared little about public relations."

August 18, 2011: President Barack Obama calls for Assad to resign. He orders an executive order freezing all Syrian government assets in the US.

November 7, 2011: In Homs, Syrian troops kick in doors and arrest people after nearly one week of aggression against army defectors and protesters.

November 27, 2011: The Arab League approves sanctions against Syria.

February. 4, 2012: Russia and China veto a UN resolution that backed calls for Assad's resignation as president of Syria.