(CNN) -- Before the Arab Spring came the Damascus Spring. When Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez Assad in 2000, there was the promise of a modern and more democratic Syria. 

In his inauguration speech, al-Assad indicated he would be a very different kind of leader to his father. "I shall try my very best to lead our country towards a future that fulfils the hopes and legitimate ambitions of our people," he said. 

And for a while that promise was kept. His official website says he has built free-trade zones, licensed more private newspapers and private universities, and fought government waste and corruption. He has also worked on social and economic reform. 

But while there have been some changes during his rule, many say al-Assad's promises have largely not been delivered. 

Human Rights Watch has called his time as president "the wasted decade" with a media that remains controlled by the state, a monitored and censored internet and prisons still filled with dissidents. 

Two former regime insiders -- now its opponents -- recalled their time with the younger al-Assad. Former vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam said Bashar was often the victim of his elder brother's cruelty. "His brother Basil bullied him as a child. His father never gave him as much attention as Basil," Khaddam said. 

Al-Assad's uncle Rifaat, who left Syria in 1984 after being involved in a failed coup, also recalled the future president. 

"He is very different than his father. Hafez was a leader, the head of the entire regime, while Bashar was never that close to being one and never fell within that framework. He is being perceived as the leader but he follows what the regime decides on his behalf." 
When?
father Hafez Assad in 2000