Cycle of Fear

Know about the book -

Cycle of Fear is written by Leon T. Goldsmith and published by Oxford University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1849044686 (ISBN 10) and 9781849044684 (ISBN 13).

The Alawites are a key component to the current civil war in Syria. Journalist Robert D. Kaplan compared Hafez al-Assad's coming to power to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia-an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries".[31] In 1971 al-Assad declared himself president of Syria, a position the constitution at the time permitted only for Sunni Muslims. The author shows how the political behavior of Alawites has long been shaped by the group's insecurity and lack of true integration into society.