What are the likely consequences for Syria of its new European Partnership Agreement?  Addressing this question, the authors examine the origins of the agreement, its aims, and the (political) reasons that it was accepted by Syria despite the potential problems it poses for the national economy.

Jörg Michael Dostal is lecturer in European Public Policy at Brunel University, West London. Anja Zorob is senior research fellow at the Institute for Development Research and Development Policy, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.