This book addresses a set of current ideas and questions, such as: Why was secularism blocked in Syria after independence? Why did democracy shrink in its regions? Why did the rule of the notables from Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, and Homs fail to establish a modern state? Why were secular parties unable to penetrate the traditional Syrian cities that submitted to the historical triad: landowners, merchants, and clergy?

This book is an attempt to discover the fundamental reasons for the ongoing transformations in Syria, interpreting these changes by integrating history, sociology, culture, and economics. It notes how the Syrian elites, who inherited a semi-collapsed state from the Ottomans and French, tried to build a cohesive state, but now these elites' descendants are turning Syria into a fragmented state. Especially after the countryside turned against the party of the rural people, namely the Ba'ath Party, and how members of a secular party were drawn to religiosity, which has engulfed all of Syria in varying degrees of extremism.