Power and Paranoia in Syria-Iraq Relations

Reviews / Votes

'A fascinating comparison of Saddam Hussein and Hafiz al-Asad, two despotic rulers who impacted not only their respective countries, Iraq and Syria, but the region as a whole. Their legacies are continuing to haunt their countries, and this study allows us to understand the ramifications.'

Joseph Sassoon, Al-Sabah Chair in Politics and Political Economy of the Arab World, Professor and Director, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), Georgetown University, USA

'Amjed Rasheed's book usefully updates one of the most fraught and consequential relationships in the Middle East to the present "age of denominations." Plausibly combining considerations of structure and agency, it exposes once again the regime-survival motivations masked by nationalist rhetoric.'

Malik Mufti, Professor of Political Science, Tufts University, USA

'Amjed Rasheed has written a lucid and highly readable account of the vicissitudes of Iraqi-Syrian relations over the decades. Understandably looming large in the story are the figures of Saddam Hussain and Hafez Assad, their insecurities, ambitions and statecraft. But equally important, as this book makes clear, are the permissive environments, domestically and internationally, that gave them agency and that perpetuate their troubling legacies into the present.'

Charles Tripp, Professor Emeritus of Politics with reference to the Middle East and North Africa, SOAS, University of London, UK