Research Catalog

Syria's peasantry, the descendants of its lesser rural notables, and their politics

Title: Syria's peasantry, the descendants of its lesser rural notables, and their politics / Hanna Batatu.
Author: Batatu, Hanna, 1926-
Publication: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©1999.

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Request for On-site Use Request Scan Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library	DS98.2 B386 1999	Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 413 pages; 24 cm

Summary

In this book, Hanna Batatu presents a comprehensive analysis of the recent social, economic, and political evolution of Syria's peasantry, the segment of society from which the current holders of political power stem. Batatu focuses mainly on the twentieth century and, in particular, on the Ba'th movement, the structures of power after the military coup d'etat of 1963, and the era of Hafiz al-Asad, Syria's first ruler of peasant extraction. Without seeking to prove any single theory about Syrian life, he offers a uniquely rich and detailed account of how power was transferred from one demographic group to another and how that power is maintained today.

Subjects

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

The Peasants' Socioeconomic Conditions -- The Role of Demographics -- Differentiations -- The "Peasant-gardeners" and the "Agricultural Peasants" -- The Pacific Peasants and the Peasants of Warrior Origin -- The "Orthodox" and the "Heterodox" Peasants -- The Clanless and Clan-linked Peasants -- The Landed and Landless Peasants, the Traditional Urban Landowners, and the Modern Mustathmirs -- Living Conditions -- The Distribution of Agricultural Income prior to and since the Restructuring of Agrarian Relations -- The Lessening Cost of Agricultural Credit -- The Reduced Tax Burden -- The Rapid Electrification of the Countryside -- The Spread of Safe Water Networks -- The Expansion of Rural Health Care -- The Development of the Means of Communication and Conveyance -- The Intensification of the State's Educational Efforts -- Economic Efficiency -- Land Use -- The Agricultural Growth Trends and Related Causal Factors -- Possible Lines of Future Progress -- The Pre-Ba'th Patterns of Peasant Consciousness, Organization, and Political Behavior -- Introduction: Portraits of Peasants / Ibn Khaldun, Balzac, Trotsky, Father Ayrout, J.C. Scott -- The First Peasant Organizations or the Corporations of Peasant-gardeners from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century -- Sufism among the Peasants: A Source of Political Quietism? -- The Proneness in Ottoman and Mandate Times of the Peasant Mountaineers to Rebellion and of the Peasants of the Open Plains to Indirect Methods of Defense -- The Communists and the Peasants.

ISBN

0691002541
9780691002545

LCCN

98021289

OCLC

ocm39024731
39024731
SCSB-738146

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library