Editing Politics of Ba'athist Syria (section)

==Government administration==
The previous [[Constitution of Syria|Syrian constitution]] of 1973 vested the [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'ath Party]] (formally the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party) with leadership functions in the state and society and provided broad powers to the president. The [[President (government title)|president]], approved by [[referendum]] for a 7-year term, was also Secretary General of the Ba'ath Party and leader of the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]]. During the [[Syrian civil war|2011–2012 Syrian uprising]], a [[2012 Constitution of Ba'athist Syria|new constitution]] was put to [[Syrian constitutional referendum, 2012|a referendum]]. Amongst other changes, it abolished the old article 8 which entrenched the power of the Ba'ath party. The new article 8 reads: "The political system of the state shall be based on the principle of political pluralism, and exercising power democratically through the ballot box".<ref name="constitution">{{cite web|url=http://sana.sy/eng/370/2012/02/28/401178.htm|title=SANA Syrian News Agency - Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic Approved in Popular Referendum on February 27, 2012, Article 8|access-date=25 June 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014034300/http://sana.sy/eng/370/2012/02/28/401178.htm|archive-date=14 October 2012}}</ref> In a new article 88, it introduced presidential elections and limited the term of office for the president to seven years with a maximum of one re-election.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sana.sy/eng/370/2012/02/28/401178.htm|title=SANA Syrian News Agency - Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic Approved in Popular Referendum on February 27, 2012, Article 88|access-date=25 June 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014034300/http://sana.sy/eng/370/2012/02/28/401178.htm|archive-date=14 October 2012}}</ref> The referendum resulted in the adoption of the new constitution, which came into force on 27 February 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sana.sy/eng/21/2012/02/28/403103.htm|title=Presidential Decree on Syria's New Constitution|date=28 February 2012|access-date=28 February 2012|agency=[[Syrian Arab News Agency]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229225906/http://sana.sy/eng/21/2012/02/28/403103.htm|archive-date=29 February 2012}}</ref> The president has the right to appoint ministers ([[Council of Ministers (Syria)|Council of Ministers]]), to declare war and states of emergency, to issue laws (which, except in the case of emergency, require ratification by the [[People's Council of Syria|People's Council]]), to declare amnesty, to amend the constitution, and to appoint [[civil servants]] and [[military]] personnel.

Along with the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]], the president decides issues of war and peace and approves the state's 5-year economic plans. The National Progressive Front also acts as a forum in which economic policies are debated and the country's political orientation is determined.

The Syrian constitution of 2012 requires that the president be Muslim but does not make [[Islam]] the state religion. The judicial system in Syria is an amalgam of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], [[France|French]], and Islamic laws, with three levels of courts: courts of first instance, [[court of appeal|courts of appeals]], and the constitutional court, the highest tribunal. In addition, religious courts handle questions of personal and [[family law]]. The Ba'ath Party emphasizes [[Arab socialism]] and secular [[Pan-Arabism]]. Despite the Ba'ath Party's doctrine on building national rather than [[ethnic]] identity, the issues of ethnic, religious, and regional allegiances still remain important in Syria.

Political system of the [[Assad regime]] has been characterized as a hybrid of [[absolute monarchy]] and republic.<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 |chapter=15: The Assad dynasty |doi=10.4324/9781003100508}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Solomon |first=Christopher |title=In Search of Greater Syria: The History and Politics of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-8386-0640-4 |location=New York, NY |pages=7 |chapter=1:Introduction |quote=}}</ref> Syrian security apparatus and the dreaded secret police are instrumentalized by the regime to instill terror among ordinary citizens to prevent critique of the [[President of Syria|President]] or organize demonstrations. Political dissidents [[Riad al-Turk]] and [[Suheir Atassi]] have described [[Ba'athist Syria]] as a "Kingdom of Silence" which maintains monopoly over political discourse by seeking the total de-politicization of the society itself.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yacoub Oweis |first=Khaled |date=16 May 2007 |title=Syria's top dissident urges Assad |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-dissident-idUSOWE64559820070516 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720162856/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-dissident-idUSOWE64559820070516 |archive-date=20 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wikstrom |first=Cajsa |date=9 February 2011 |title=Syria: ‘A kingdom of silence’ |work=Al Jazeera |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2011/2/9/syria-a-kingdom-of-silence |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529164126/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2011/2/9/syria-a-kingdom-of-silence |archive-date=29 May 2023}}</ref>