The Roots of the Soviet-Syrian Alliance: A Neo-Gramscian Perspective

Abstract

The Baath regime of Syria had a close relationship with Moscow and received its diplomatic and military assistance during the Cold War. As an Arab nationalist regime and a non-member of the Eastern Bloc, the Baath intention can be considered as pragmatic in terms of approaching to Moscow just to strengthen Syrian military and economic capabilities and gaining diplomatic protection against the Western Bloc. Nevertheless, such material perspectives ignore the whole picture in which non-material factors also played a key role in Soviet-Baath relations. In this context, this article questions to what extent Soviet-Baath relationship can be considered as pragmatic between the 1940s and 1980s and aims to evaluate this relationship with neo-Gramscian hegemony. This theoretical preference is significant, because the nature of neo-Gramscian hegemony enables to see both material and non-material aspects of consensual Soviet-Baath relationship with a necessary focus on material capabilities, institutions, and ideas. In order to answer its question, the article analyzes several primary and secondary resources to form this qualitative research and concludes that the Soviet and Baath regimes enjoyed hegemonic relations that cannot be viewed as a purely pragmatic, rather, the ideational, institutional, and material dimensions of their relationship need to be considered as a whole.

Keywords

• Gramsci
• hegemony
• the Soviet Union
• the Baath Regime
• Syria

The Roots of the Soviet-Syrian Alliance: A Neo-Gramscian Perspective

Abstract

The Soviet and Baath regimes enjoyed a consensual relationship between the 1940s and the 1980s. The nature of this relationship was shaped both by the need for an alliance in a period of Cold War bipolarity and by shared common ideological worldviews such as anti-imperialism and socialism. These relations were not free from pragmatism to a certain extent, as the degree of commitment to socialism and Pan-Arabism within the Baath Party sometimes fluctuated. Nevertheless, the generally close relationship between Syria and the USSR cannot be seen as a purely pragmatic strategy; rather, this relationship's ideational, institutional, and material dimensions must be considered as a whole. In this context, this article examines Soviet-Syrian relations from the perspective of neo-Gramscian hegemony to develop a framework for understanding these three key factors behind this alliance.

Keywords

• Gramsci
• hegemony
• the Soviet Union
• the Baath Regime
• Syria

Sovyet-Suriye İttifakının Kökenleri: Neo-Gramşiyan Bir Perspektif

Abstract

Sovyet ve Baas rejimleri 1940’lardan ve 1980’lere kadar rızaya dayalı bir hegemonik ilişki yaşadılar. Bu ilişkinin doğası, hem Soğuk Savaş’ın yarattığı iki kutuplu dönemde ittifak kurma gerekliliği hem de anti-emperyalizm ve sosyalizm gibi paylaşılan ortak ideolojik dünya görüşleri tarafından şekillendirildi. Baas Partisi içinde sosyalizme ve pan-Arabizme bağlılık düzeyi bazen dalgalansa da, bu ilişkiler genel olarak pragmatizmden bağımsız değildi. Ancak, Suriye ile SSCB arasındaki yakın ilişkileri yalnızca pragmatik bir strateji olarak görmekten ziyade bu ilişkinin düşünsel, kurumsal ve maddi boyutlarının bir bütün olarak ele alınması gerekmektedir. Bu bağlamda, bu makale, Sovyetler Birliği-Suriye ilişkilerini bu ittifakın arkasındaki bu üç temel faktörü de anlayarak bir çerçeve geliştirmek için neo-Gramşiyan hegemonya perspektifinden incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.

Keywords

• Gramşi
• hegemonya
• Sovyetler Birliği
• Baas Rejimi
• Suriye

References

1. Aghayev, E. & Katman, F. (2012). Historical Background and the Present State of the Russian-Syrian Relations. European Researcher, 35(11-3), 2066-2070.
2. Armaoğlu, F. (1996). 20. Yüzyıl Siyasi Tarihi (1914-1995), İstanbul: Alkım Press.
3. Ataman, M. (April 2012), Suriye’de İktidar Mücadelesi: Baas Rejimi, Toplumsal Talepler Ve Uluslararası Toplum, http://file.setav.org/Files/Pdf/20121126132435_seta-suriye_de_iktidar_mucadelesi.pdf.
4. Augelli, E. & Murphy, C. N. (1993). Gramsci and International Relations: A General Perspective and Example from the Recent U.S. Policy toward the Third World, In S. Gill (Ed.), Gramsci, Historical Materialism and International Relations (127-147), New York: Cambridge University Press.
5. Barghoorn, F.C. (1958). Soviet Cultural Diplomacy since Stalin, The Russian Review, 17(1), 41-55.
6. Barry, A. (2012). Russians and Syrians, Allied by History and Related by Marriage, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/world/middleeast/for-russia-syrian-ties-complicated-by-marriage.html.
7. Bekcan, U. (2019). The Cold War in the Middle East in the Second Half of the 1950s: What Was the Soviet Response Against Western Interventionism?, Tarih İncelemeleri Dergisi, 34(1), 49-72.
8. Bieler, A. & Morton, A. D. (2004). A Critical Theory Route to Hegemony, World Order and Historical Change: Neo-Gramscian Perspectives in International Relations, Capital& Class, 28(1), 85-113.

9. Bisley, N. (2007). The Cold War, In R. Devetak, A. Burke, and J. George (Eds.), An Introduction to International Relations: Australian Perspectives (223-234), New York: Cambridge University Press.
10. Borshchevskaya, A. (2013). Russia’s Many Interests in Syria, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/russias-many-interests-in-syria.
11. Campbell, J. C. (1972). The Soviet Union and the United States in the Middle East. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 401, 126-135.
12. Cox, R. W. (1981). Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 10(2), 126-155.
13. Cox, R. W. (1983), Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in Method, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 12(2), 162-175.
14. Cox, R. W. (1987), Production, Power, and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History (1st vol.), New York: Columbia University Press.
15. Cultural Revolution (2004). In Encyclopedia of Russian History, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cultural-revolution.
16. Dawisha, K. (1975). Soviet Cultural Relations with Iraq, Syria and Egypt 1955-70, Soviet Studies, 27(3), 418-442.
17. Dawisha, K. (1980). Soviet Policy in the Arab World: Permanent Interests and Changing Influence, Arab Studies Quarterly, 2(1), 19-37.
18. Dilek, M. S. (2017). Rusya Federasyonu-Suriye İlişkilerinin Temelleri, Kastamonu Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 16 (2).
19. Dirzauskaite, G. & Ilinca, N. C. (2017). Understanding Hegemony in International Relations Theories, Aalborg University Development and International Relations, https://projekter.aau.dk/projekter/files/260247380/Understanding__Hegemony__in_International_Relations_Theories.pdf.
20. Easter, D. (2018). Soviet intelligence and the 1957 Syrian crisis, Intelligence and National Security, 33(2), 227-240.
21. Fildis, A.T. (2011). The Troubles in Syria: Spawned by French Divide and Rule, Middle East Policy, 18(4), 129-139.
22. Fitzpatrick, S. (1974). Cultural Revolution in Russia 1928-32, Journal of Contemporary History, 9(1), 33-52.
23. Gaddis, J. L. (2005). The Cold War: A New History, New York: The Penguin Press.
24. Galvani, J. (1974). Syria and the Baath Party, MERIP Reports, 25, 3-16.
25. Ginat, R. (1991). The Soviet Union and Egypt, 1947-1955, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science, http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1145/.
26. Ginat, R. (1996). Soviet Policy towards the Arab World, 1945-48, Middle Eastern Studies, 32(4), 321-335.
27. Ginat, R. (2000). The Soviet Union and the Ba’th Regime: From Hesitation to Rapprochement, Middle Eastern Studies, 36(2), 150-171.
28. Grzybowski, K. (1964). International Organizations From the Soviet Point of View, Law and Contemporary Problems, 29, 882-895.
29. Gvosdev, N.K. & Marsh, C. (2014). Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Vectors and Sectors, California: C.Q. Press.
30. Hitti, P.K. (1959). Syria: A Short History, New York: The Macmillan Company.
31. Jackson, A. (2018). Persian Gulf Command: A History of Second World War in Iran and Iraq, New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
32. Karabulut, B. (2007). Karadeniz’den Ortadoğu’ya Uzanan Bir Dış Politika: Geçmişten Günümüze Suriye-Rusya İlişkileri, Karadeniz Araştırmaları, 15, 67-88.
33. Karsh, E. (1991). Soviet Policy Towards Syria Since 1970, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
34. Khalidi, R. (1985). Arab Views of the Soviet Role in the Middle East, Middle East Journal, 39(4), 716-732.
35. Khlebnikov, A. (2011). Why Is Russia Standing by Syria?, Tel Aviv Notes, 5(18), 1-5, https://dayan.org/file-download/download/public/15855.
36. Kirshin, Y. (1998). Conventional arms transfers during the Soviet period, In Ian Anthony (ed.), Russia and the Arms Trade (38-70), New York: Sipri Oxford University Press, https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/files/books/SIPRI98An/SIPRI98An.pdf.
37. Laqueur, W. (1969). Struggle for the Middle East, the Soviet Union and the Middle East 1958-68, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
38. Lebow, R. N. & Gross, J. (1994). We All Lost the Cold War, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
39. Le message adressé le 11 juillet par M. Brejnev à la Syrie “Vous pouvez contribuer à l'arrêt des combats en retirant vos forces”. (1976, 20 July). Le Monde, https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1976/07/20/le-message-adresse-le-11-juillet-par-m-brejnev-a-la-syrie-vous-pouvez-contribuer-a-l-arret-des-combats-en-retirant-vos-forces_3122729_1819218.html.
40. Lund, A. (2019). From Cold War to Civil War: 75 Years of Russian-Syrian Relations, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, https://www.ui.se/globalassets/ui.se-eng/publications/ui-publications/2019/ui-paper-no.-7-2019.pdf.
41. Makdisi, U. (2002). "Anti-Americanism" in the Arab World: An Interpretation of a Brief History, The Journal of American History, 89(2), 538-557.
42. Malashenko, A. (2013). Russia and the Arab Spring, Carnegie Moscow Center. https://carnegieendowment.org/files/russia_arab_spring2013.pdf.
43. Meininghaus, E. (2016). Creating Consent in Ba’thist Syria: Women and Welfare in A Totalitarian State, London: I.B. Tauris.
44. Moubayed, S. (2021). The Damascus-Moscow Connection (Part One: 1919 to 1958), Inside Arabia, https://insidearabia.com/the-damascus-moscow-connection-part-one-1919-to-1958/.
45. Murphy, R. (2018). Rear Admiral Larry Chambers, USN: First African American to Command an Aircraft Carrier, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland& Company, Inc., Publishers.
46. National Archives of United Kingdom, Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence from 1906-1966, Political Relations: Soviet Union, FO 371/186904.
47. Neumann, R. G. (1983/1984). Assad and the Future of the Middle East, Foreign Affairs, 62(2), 237-256.
48. Noumoff, S. J. (1980). COMECON and the Third World. Economic and Political Weekly, 15(34), 1443-1454.
49. Okur, M. A. (2009). Emperyalizmin Ortadoğu Tecrübesinden Bir Kesit: Suriye’de Fransız Mandası, Bilig, 48, 137-156.
50. United States Government (1957). Office Memorandum. Transmittal of ERA Project “Soviet Bloc and Western Support For Economic Development in Syria,” https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000500785.pdf.
51. Özkoç, Ö. (2008). Suriye Baas Partisi: Kökenleri, Dönüşümü, İzlediği İç ve Dış Politika (1943-1991), Ankara: Mülkiyeliler Birliği Yayınları.
52. Peretz, D. (1983). Middle East Today (4th edition), New York: Praeger Publishers.
53. Pipes, D. (1986). Syria: The Cuba of the Middle East? http://www.danielpipes.org/documents/170.pdf.
54. Primakov, Y. (2010), Rusların Gözüyle Ortadoğu, (Translated by Olga Tezcan), İstanbul: Timaş Yayınları.
55. Rabinovich, I. (1972). Syria Under the Ba’th 1963-66: The Army-Party Symbiosis, Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press.
56. Reich, B. & Gotowicki, S. H. (1994). The United States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East, https://community.apan.org/wg/tradoc-g2/fmso/m/fmso-monographs/247306.
57. Riordan, J. (1974). Soviet Sport and Soviet Foreign Policy, Soviet Studies, 26(3), 322-343.
58. Ro’i, Y. (1974a). Soviet Policy in the Middle East: The Case of Palestine during the World War II, Cahiers du Monde Russe, 15(2-3), 373-408.
59. Ro’i, Y. (1974b). From Encroachment to Involvement: A Documentary Study of Soviet Policy in the Middle East, 1945-1973, Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press.
60. Rubin, B. (2007). The Truth About Syria, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
61. Schoenberger, E.& Reich, S. (1975). Soviet Policy in the Middle East, MERIP Reports, (39), 3-28. http://www.jstor.com/stable/30110491.
62. Shad, T.I., Boucher, S. and Reddish, J.G. (1995). Syrian Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era, Arab Studies Quarterly, 17(1/2), 77-94.
63. Sharnoff, M. (2009). The Syria-Soviet Alliance, https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2009/02/28/the-syria-soviet-alliance/.
64. Special National Intelligence Estimate (1988). In FRUS 1955-1957, 13, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v13.
65. Talhami, G. H. (2001). Syria: Islam, Arab Nationalism, and the Military, Middle East Policy, 8(4), 110-127.
66. The Ba’ath Party in Syria (2006). In Harvard Divinity School, https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/faq/baath-party-syria.
67. The Baath Party (2015). Definition of the Party, http://www.baath-party.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=306&Itemid=326&lang=en.
68. The Baath Party (2015). General Principles of the Party, http://www.baath-party.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7614:general-principles&catid=307&Itemid=327&lang=en.
69. Tudoroiu, T. (2015). The Reciprocal Constitutive Features of a Middle Eastern Partnership: The Russian-Syrian Bilateral Relations, Journal of Eurasian Studies, 6(2), 143-152.
70. Westad, O. A. (2017). The Cold War: A World History, New York: Basic Books.
71. Yılmaz, S. (2016). Rusya Neden Suriye’de, Ankara: Yazar Yayınları.