Editing Politics of Ba'athist Syria (section)

==Background==
[[Hafez al-Assad]] took power in 1970. After his death in 2000 his son, Bashar al-Assad, succeeded him as president. A surge of interest in political reform took place after Bashar al-Assad assumed power in 2000. [[Human-rights]] activists and other civil-society advocates, as well as some parliamentarians, became more outspoken during a period referred to as the "[[Damascus Spring]]" (July 2000-February 2001), which was crushed by the Ba'athist government under the pretext of "national unity and stability".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 April 2012 |title=Syria in Crisis: The Damascus Spring |url=https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/48516?lang=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524185122/https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/48516?lang=en |archive-date=24 May 2022 |website=Carnegie Middle East Center}}</ref>

Hafez al-Assad built his government around three pillars, core of which is the Ba'ath party and its affiliated organizations which holds extensive influence over the society through its monopoly over the media and civil activism. [[Alawites|Alawite]] elites who are loyal to the [[Assad family]] form another patronage network. The final pillar is the pervasive military apparatus that is managed by the [[Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'athist Central Command]]; consisting of [[Syrian Arab Armed Forces]], ''[[Syrian intelligence|Mukhabarat]]'' and various Ba'athist paramilitaries, all of which are headed by senior party leaders who directly answer to the Assad patriarch.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ma’oz |first=Moshe |title=Dictators and Autocrats: Securing Power across Global Politics |publisher=Routledge |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-367-60786-9 |editor-last=Larres |editor-first=Klaus |location=New York, NY |pages=249-250 |chapter=15: The Assad dynasty |doi=10.4324/9781003100508}}</ref>