Syrian exiles who released a document in Berlin last month about methods that a transitional government might use to establish a free and democratic Syria after the fall of the Assad regime say they did it to inspire debate, and to quell fears over the future of the silent majority that remains trapped in the war-torn country.
"There was no disagreement among the Syrian opposition and the Syrian people about what the future of Syria will look like," said Rami Nakhla, a member of the executive committee that drafted The Day After, a paper outlining a post-Assad democratic landscape. "Everybody is calling for almost the same thing: a free country, a civil state, democratic models, rule of law and civil authorities."
