Contributor(s): Professor Raymond Hinnebusch | This talk will examine Iraq-Syria relations with the aim of using their changing relations as indicators of changes in the regional states and regional states system. It will therefore use the current relationship as emblematic of the current state of the states system in MENA. Raymond Hinnebusch is professor of international relations and Middle East politics at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, co-founder of the Institute for the study of the Middle East, Central Asian and the Caucasus and director of the Centre for Syrian Studies.