**Dr. Abdullah Turkmani**  

After the blood of Syrians has been shed for national democratic change, this change has become a priority on the Syrian agenda following the fall of the regime on the morning of December 8. Therefore, it is essential to attempt to understand the content and levels of this change and to articulate its questions. The Syrian narrative can be summarized in institutional transformation based on a set of values: freedom, dignity, transparency, democracy, and human rights.  

The Syrian people have resolved to emerge from a life of slavery, which they have wallowed in for more than 50 years. What needs to change? What should be preserved? How can we ensure future developments? What do we do with the old authoritarian culture? Does change happen on its own, or must it be managed? How long will the transformation process take? Can an entire political culture change to be replaced by another?  

The main question is: How can the transition from tyranny to democracy be achieved in Syria? Specifically, how can the impacts of the previous authoritarian regime and the security state be dismantled? How can the political system be re-established in a way that lays a foundation for democracy, which forms the basis for change at all economic, social, cultural, and political levels—necessitating the rebuilding of the modern Syrian state?  

Deep transformations in human societies have made democracy and human rights hallmarks of the age. Democracy has become an indispensable necessity, an unavoidable choice; it is the standard against which the viability of other options in politics, society, economy, and culture are measured, granting all these options their human dimension. These transformations can only be genuinely actualized within the framework of a modern state, resting on three pillars: the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers, societal oversight of state power, and the submission of state power itself to the laws it enacts.  

The majority of the Syrian people have gathered indicators showing that this regime has become mummified and resistant to reform, due to various reasons including profound internal structural flaws, its interpretation of its role and position within the Syrian state, and the nature of the structures it established in alignment with that composition and understanding—especially after the state became synonymous with power, the ruling Ba'ath Party, and the sole leader since Hafiz al-Assad’s coup in 1970.  

Syrians have risen against the security state that has dominated every aspect of their lives, deciding that change is needed at all national levels.  

### Setting Priorities and Reviewing Goals  

Certainly, identifying priorities and re-evaluating the goals to be achieved is an urgent necessity in Syria, focusing on fostering democratic rules, building constitutional institutions, addressing living conditions, modernizing economic and social structures, and achieving sustainable development that enhances Syrian capacities.  

Syria stands in dire need of a capable, just, and effective democratic state—one of law, rights, and sustainable comprehensive development. The rights of its citizens are the duties of the state, as a state designed for the entire society. It is a state for all its citizens without exception or discrimination, where individuals and social components actively participate through institutions. The only viable solution lies in establishing a state based on full citizenship founded on an equitable constitution that does not discriminate among its citizens based on religion, sect, or ethnicity.  

The issue of democracy is one of the most important lessons we can draw, as the weakening of citizen participation in the developmental process has led to a lack of genuine developmental achievements. Comprehensive progress cannot be realized or maintained in the absence of political change, relying on a broader democratic base and effective enjoyment of political and intellectual freedoms. It is inconceivable to envision Syria for all its citizens without revitalizing civil society and ensuring its institutions are independent of state authority, enabling society to reclaim its political and cultural engagement, which is essential for rebuilding a modern Syrian state.  

Thus, the solution to escape the ongoing crisis of the Syrian state is to move from a structure of exclusion and violence to a social-political-cultural structure based on productive work, investment in economic and human resources, and liberation of the will of the nation and its citizens. The correct framework for establishing this structure includes:  
- Equal rights and duties of citizenship, as a contract for organizing the relationships between individuals and groups.  
- Democracy as the framework for enabling political participation that ensures the separation of powers—executive, legislative, and judicial—and their rotation.  
- Comprehensive development to invest in and enhance economic and human resources to establish a productive economy that raises the living standards of the population and secures social justice.  

The previous Syrian authority relied on a political-security-economic complex, meaning that no change in the country can occur without dismantling this complex. This complex must be changed, which entails two fundamental things: first, closing the chapter of hereditary eternal rule and restoring the principles of the republican system; and second, lifting the immunity of security apparatuses and subjecting them to legal accountability while changing their structure and doctrine to focus on the security