Syria's Democratic Years

The years 19541958 in Syria are popularly known as "The Democratic Years," a brief period of civilian government before the consolidation of authoritarian rule. Kevin W. Martin provides a cultural history of the period and argues that the authoritarian outcome was anything but inevitable. Examining the flourishing broadcast and print media of the time, he focuses on three public figures, experts whose professionslaw, the military, and medicineprojected modernity and modeled the new Arab citizen. This experiment with democracy, however abortive, offers a model of governance from Syrias historical experience that could serve as an alternative to dictatorship.