Rethinking State-Society Relations in Syria until 1970: What Does the Center-Periphery Model Tell Us?

Year 2014, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 115 - 140, 01.01.2014

Nuri Salık

Abstract

This study aims to analyze, in a historical perspective, the state-society relations in Syria within the framework of the center-periphery model introduced by Edward Shils. The article argues that Shils’s model is a useful approach to understand the state-society relations in Syria during the Ottoman, mandate and independence periods. In the article, Shils’s concept of the center both as a culture and institution, and concept of the periphery are reevaluated in a dynamic way. In this regard, it is observed that there are changes and tensions not only between the center and the periphery but also among different groups within the center and the periphery throughout the period examined in the article. The article also suggests that the center-periphery model should be supplemented with class analysis in order to understand politics of Syria from independence in 1946 to Hafez al-Assad’s Corrective Revolution in 1970

Keywords

Syria, Syrian Politics, the Ottoman Empire, Center-Periphery Model, State-Society Relations

1970’e Kadar Suriye’de Devlet-Toplum İlişkilerini Yeniden Düşünmek: Merkez-Çevre Modeli Bize Ne Söyler?

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Edward Shils tarafından başlatılan merkez-çevre modeli çerçevesinde, tarihsel bir perspektiften, Suriye’de devlet-toplum ilişkilerini incelemeyi hedeflemektedir. Makale, Suriye’de devlet-toplum ilişkilerini Osmanlı, manda ve bağımsızlık sonrası dönemlerde anlamak için Shils’in modelinin kullanışlı bir yaklaşım olduğunu savunmaktadır. Makalede, Shils’in kültür ve kurum olarak merkez kavramı ve çevre kavramı dinamik bir biçimde yeniden değerlendirilmiştir. Bu açıdan, makalede incelenen dönem boyunca sadece merkez ve çevre arasında değil, merkez ve çevre içerisindeki farklı gruplar arasında da gerilimler ve değişimler gözlemlenmiştir. Makale ayrıca Suriye’nin 1946’daki bağımsızlığından 1970’te Hafız Esad’ın Düzeltici Devrimi’ne kadar Suriye politikasının anlaşılması için merkez-çevre modelinin sınıf analiziyle desteklenmesi gerektiğini tavsiye etmektedir

Keywords

Suriye, Suriye Siyaseti, Osmanlı Devleti, Merkez-Çevre Modeli, Devlet-Toplum İlişkileri

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