Let’s speak about Middle East… When one looks at a situation like that of Hafez Asad passing his presidency onto his son, it would seem extremely difficult in a presidential system, like that of Syria, to transfer rule from father to son. It would make it even more difficult considering that the son, Bashar Asad, does not fulfill many of the qualifications outlined in the constitution. However, somehow Hafez Asad was able to accomplish this transfer of rule to his son Bashar.

Hafez al-Asad had his mind set on paving the way for Bashar to succeed him as president. Many steps were taken and many changes were made by al-Asad to ensure and secure the presidency for his son. This was a fairly smooth transition. Al-Asad began to bring strong supporters of Bashar into the cabinet and appoint them into key positions. Out of the thirty-six possible positions available in the cabinet, twenty-three had been given to these young, loyal supporters of Bashar. The remaining thirteen seats however were still held by the older officers and were the most important seats in the cabinet. (read full text…)