Coup in Damascus : Syria and the Birth of Arab Military Rule, 1949

Coup in Damascus explores Syria's 1949 military coup by focusing on cost-driven political action. Rihan affirms that flawed monetary policies, disrupted trade, and recurrent economic interventionism led to the rise of authoritarianism, thereby offering a fresh interdisciplinary perspective on Middle Eastern history. -- .

Coup in Damascus examines the military takeover of Syria in 1949, an event which precipitated the rise of authoritarianism across the region. Connecting economics, politics and history, it challenges traditional interpretations grounded in international relations by shifting the focus away from geopolitics and postcolonial studies, affirming instead the primacy of cost-calculating, utility driven political action. By bringing neoclassical and Austrian economics into contact with Middle East history, Coup in Damascus demonstrates how unsound monetary practices, the disruption of trade routes and excessive interventionism upset social and institutional equilibriums thereby leading to authoritarianism. Coup in Damascus also highlights how lingering tensions, or spillover costs, normally resolved through economic and political exchange, congested political systems thereby triggering violence and recurrence. -- .