In the midst of turmoil in the Middle East & in the face of protests & demonstrations from Homs to Damascus & other places all over Syria the Ba'th Party & Bashar al-Asad are truly caught up in a struggle to hold onto power in Syria In this important book Nikolaos van Dam explores & explains how the Asad dynasty has come to rule Syria for about half a century & keep the complex patchwork of minorities factions & opponents securely under control for such an unprecedented long period Through an in-depth examination of the role of sectarian regional & tribal loyalties van Dam traces developments within the Ba'th party & the military & civilian power elite from the 1963 Ba'thist takeover up to the present day