Al-iqd al-akhir fi tareekh suria (The Last Decade of Syria’s History: Dialect of reform and dead ends), by Mohammed Gamal Barrot, Doha: ACRP, 2012. 462pp.

The Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies has just released a new book by Syrian writer Mohammed Gamal Barrott, entitled The Last Decade of Syria’s History: Dialect of reform and dead ends. The book tries to explore the motives behind events taking place in Syria now, tracing what the author calls “objective" and "substantial" factors leading to the outbreak of the revolution on 15 March 2011.

The book consists of two sections. The first uses social, political, historical and demographic methodology to analyse the relation between development and social change, shedding light on calls to liberalise the economy during the past decade. In the second section the author examines social mobility in Syria, centred on the national protest movement.