since the first establishment of a ba’athist party in syria in the 1940s, there have been a number of different ba'athist parties and figureheads. the most prominent examples are saddam hussein in iraq and hafez al-assad and his son bashar al-assad in syria. there are different forms of ba'athism. however, the core principles can be reduced to the writings and ideas of michel aflaq. these principles are arab nationalism, revolution, pan-arabism, anti-imperialism and socialism.