The nature of authority that manages state institutions is the decisive factor in developmental policies. If the de facto authority after the change reflects the interests of citizens to meet their basic needs for work, housing, health, and education, and establishes infrastructure that facilitates their lives, it can lead to a hopeful outcome. Conversely, if it is a despotic authority that utilizes the state to serve the interests of its supporters, the situation is bleak. The Syrians’ experience with enduring despotic authority for six decades makes the first option the hope they aspire to.

We attempt here to envision the role of the new Syrian state in the comprehensive development process and explore the best form for its role in balancing developmental policies. We aim to benefit from the experiences of countries that have transitioned from revolutions and civil wars to successful developmental options, as well as those that have moved from authoritarian states to developmental states.

It is essential to reshape the development trajectory to effectively address the challenges arising from the past fourteen years, by utilizing Syria's available economic and human resources, supplemented by reconstruction projects that regional countries and international organizations can engage in. This requires a stable security and political environment that preserves basic human rights and adheres to principles of justice for all Syrian citizens—essentially establishing good governance capable of achieving participatory development, efficiently deploying available resources. In this context, a civil society striving for partnership with the state and the private sector can become a driving force to achieve developmental policies that meet the needs of the citizens.

The Necessity of the Political Transition Process

It is not possible to discuss developmental policies in the absence of a real political transition that ensures a shift from a state dominated by an oppressive family to one that opens the horizon towards a government that guarantees public freedoms and basic human rights, as enshrined in the new social contract. Freedoms are the "tools, guarantees, and objectives of human development, encompassing political, civil, economic, and social freedoms, and related to the opportunities available for people to determine who should govern and according to what principles, as well as the ability to monitor and criticize authorities, enjoy political expression, and have a free press." This guarantees good governance that effectively utilizes economic and human resources for participatory development, fulfilling the needs of the Syrian people based on the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and partnership.

Thus, it appears that the starting point for comprehensive development is political development to ensure the ability to utilize resources for new developmental policies and to launch Syrians' initiatives for partnership in future development projects, by broadening the ownership base through the generalization of joint-stock companies and facilitating small and medium enterprises, to secure a decent standard of living.

In the context of the partnership of Syrians, it is essential to empower women and youth and ensure their full rights as free citizens; their level of participation will determine the fate of comprehensive development, given their added value to development projects.

The Role of the Contemporary State in Participatory Development

The mission of the contemporary state is not only to exercise sovereignty over its society but, more importantly, to employ state resources to achieve comprehensive development that meets citizens' needs and guarantees their well-being, through its contribution to maximizing these resources by engaging in the contemporary knowledge society and its associated knowledge economy. The goal is to enhance national production in a few years after the change in Syria. The knowledge gap is a significant indicator of the extent to which countries can achieve comprehensive development for their societies. Therefore, acquiring modern knowledge and leveraging it to improve human capacity performance—particularly by tapping into the role of knowledgeable and experienced youth—can establish the foundations for a welfare state that meets citizens' needs as rights rather than as gifts from the state. Such a state "requires a balance in the method of power and resource sharing between capital and labor forces, as supporting a welfare state is necessary to prevent the state from descending into fascism."

Thus, the desired welfare state requires the integration of the foundations of development: political, economic, social, and cultural. This necessitates state intervention in defining developmental policies and providing their foundations, in balanced partnership with the private sector and civil society organizations, through legislative and regulatory frameworks that ensure success in achieving comprehensive development goals.

The significance of civil society organizations in achieving participatory development is underscored by the fact that their relationship with the developmental state is one of "complementarity, mutual dependence, and role distribution, as one of the manifestations of the modern state, which secures its conditions for establishment through legislating a rights system that regulates the practices of all parties and groups within society."

Thus, comprehensive development is not solely the task of the state—in planning and implementation but relies on participatory development to meet citizens' rights to a dignified life, not solely depending on government agencies, but through collaboration among all economic and social actors involved in comprehensive, sustainable, and just development.

 

Conclusion
The activation of participatory development policies is dependent on the completion of the political transition process, i.e. the Syrian developmental advancement is dependent on the transition to civil peace, i.e. the reconstruction of a stable and secure Syrian state that can secure political conditions for democratic transition that unleash public freedoms for Syrians, and that help form the historical bloc of culture and work with the aim of launching participatory development projects that employ human and economic resources to meet the basic needs of citizens at first, in the hope that they will lead to a welfare state in the future.

It is very difficult to estimate the success of the first development phase, given the size of the Syrian disaster after fourteen years of conflict, in addition to the effects of the continuation of tyranny for 54 years. Perhaps the availability of factors of security, stability, and the rule of law, and the achievement of the foundations of participatory development, can contribute to the success of this phase.

Thus, reaching a state that secures welfare for citizens depends on the extent to which Syria's future responds to the requirements of a knowledge society and economy, by qualifying young generations through modern educational curricula to secure a climate of creativity and innovation. Thus, we can talk about a developmental state capable of guaranteeing housing, work, health, education and welfare for its citizens without discrimination, and in a manner that preserves their dignity.

Dr. Abdullah Turkmany