Tribalism.
Actually, what Syria has become, (mirroring Libya and to some degree Iraq) accurately reflects the greater Middle East, in how the various countries are comprised. Loyalty to clan and tribe trumps the state almost without exception.
Foreign Affairs: The remapping of Syria
US campaign advisers Arthur Finkelstein and James Carville have not been hired, but Bashar Assad will still win next month’s election, and proceed to a third seven-year term as president of Syria.
Coupled with Egypt’s election – to be held one week earlier, with Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s victory also predestined – and the world may be resigned to the conclusion that three-and-a-half years of upheaval have landed the Arab world back at square one. This impression may be right in Egypt, but it is unfounded in Syria, whose future will be markedly different from its past.
