r/neoliberal • u/gary_oldman_sachs Max Weber • 27d ago

Rebel technocrats start to disentangle Syria’s corrupt state News (Middle East)

https://www.ft.com/content/7efc20db-6da9-47d0-96e3-94b0f230134c

378 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

I'm interested to see if he takes any formal role or just de-facto runs everything behind the scenes using these guys as his front men. It seems like it might be the latter, which is interesting and suggests that he understands that you can have power without a fancy title.

1

u/FlightlessGriffin 26d ago

It'll be smart, too. Till Syria has elections, the country's a dictatorship, benevolent or otherwise, so might as well have someone running things behind the scenes at least till then.

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u/chitowngirl12 26d ago

Oh. I don't think Al-Shara'a plans on riding off into the sunset and quietly retiring on the countryside - like ever. I'm just interested in how he plans to do this - controlling everything behind the scenes or formally being "president" or whatever title.

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u/FlightlessGriffin 26d ago

We'll see soon enough. The first thing to watch for is the new constitution. How much power does it give a single man? Are there term limits? Are they consecutive/permanent term limits like the US or loophole term limits like Russia?

After that, if he runs for the "powerful" position and there's no opposition, we'll see problems. Of course, it's not outside the realm of possibility that the guy simply rules as a dictator and Democratizes near the end like Chiang kai Shek.

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u/chitowngirl12 26d ago

He can just de-facto rule behind the scenes through other people. That is pretty much what is happening now where there is a government but Al-Shara is just issuing edicts over the government. Color me skeptical that someone with his past just wants to usher in multi-party democracy. He just concluded that being the "President for Life," either formally or de-facto, is a more intriguing proposition than waging global jihad.