On a Syria That Emerged from Tyranny Without Entering the State

On a Syria That Emerged from Tyranny Without Entering the State

When Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed, many Syrians—including myself—saw in that moment the end of a despotic, corrupt order and the beginning of a new era open to all. For us, the fall of the regime offered a rare chance to turn a page in the country’s modern history. We hoped the state could finally be reclaimed from a power that had monopolized it, weaponized it, and hollowed it out, and returned to the people as a public institution rather…