Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:39:48.391Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explaining the Kurdish Democratic Union Party's Self-Governance Practices in Northern Syria, 2012–18

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2019

Burcu Özçelik
Burcu Özçelik*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

On 17 March 2016 the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (Partîya Yekîtî ya Dêmokrat, PYD) unilaterally proclaimed the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria in three cantons, Afrin and Kobane in northern Aleppo province, and Jazira in Hassakeh. The party's ideology claims to endorse the participation of civilians and certain Arab tribes and minorities in its governance councils. However, the PYD and its armed militia, the People's Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG), have been accused of committing human rights violations against civilians and installing one-party rule. Given its stated normative commitments and ideas on democracy, this ideology–practice gap begs the question: what factors facilitated the PYD to conform to its democratic pronouncements on power-sharing and inclusivity under certain conditions and, conversely, what factors permitted their abandonment or violation? By analysing the PYD's governance record and strategies in northern Syria between 2012 and 2018, this article argues that the PYD displayed a mix of democratic adherence and transgression in its governance practices. This has meant that the PYD engaged hybrid mechanisms of democracy-building, coercion, displacement and violence in order to consolidate territorial control and assert ideological hegemony. I argue that complex networks of local, state and third-party interests complicate Kurdish self-rule in Syria, requiring a multilevel approach to understand the interrelated challenges to democratization in the post-war transition. I identify four major types of relations that have influenced the PYD's hybrid governance practices: intra-organizational factionalism; civilian–rebel relations, especially in mixed demographic areas; international sponsors and rivals; and rebel–regime relations.

Keywords

rebel governanceKurdsSyriaTurkeyself-determinationdemocracy
Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 690 - 710
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2019. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acun, C and Keskin, B (2016) PKK'nın Kuzey Suriye Örgütlenmesi: PYD-YPG [The PKK's Institutionalization in Northern Syria: PYD-YPG]. Report. SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. www.setav.org/pkknin-kuzey-suriye-orgutlenmesi-pyd-ypg/.Google Scholar
AFP (Agence France Presse) (2018) Kurds, Christians Split Over Syria School Curriculum. 12 September, www.france24.com/en/20180912-kurds-christians-split-over-syria-school-curriculum.Google Scholar
Akkaya, AH and Jongerden, J (2012) The Kurdistan Workers Party and a New Left in Turkey: Analysis of the Revolutionary Movement in Turkey through the PKK's Memorial Text on Haki Karer. European Journal of Turkish Studies (online), 14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ali, AAK (2015) The Security Gap in Syria: Individual and Collective Security in ‘Rebel-held’ Territories. Stability: International Journal of Security and Development 4(1), p.Art. 40. http://doi.org/10.5334/sta.gd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Khateb, K (2018) Turkey Backs New Opposition Governance to Mend Afrin. Al-Monitor, 25 April.Google Scholar
Al-Monitor (2018) Opposition to US Plans for East Syria Unites Fragile Astana Trio, 7 October, www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/10/russia-lavrov-iraq-iran-us-zarif.html#ixzz5csgpbqHl (accessed 17 January 2019).Google Scholar
Allsopp, H (2015) The Kurds of Syria: Political Parties and Identity in the Middle East. London: IB Tauris.Google Scholar
Amnesty International (2015) ‘We Had Nowhere Else to Go’: Forced Displacement and Demolitions in Northern Syria, www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/2503/2015/en/.Google Scholar
Amnesty International (2016/17) The State of the World's Human Rights, www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/syria/report-syria/.Google Scholar
Arafat, H (2017) Federalism is Only Solution for Syrian Crisis: PYD Co-Chair, Kurdistan24, 18 February, http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/a3516d0e-af11-4d2f-91d9-56a6ea758abb/Federalism-is-only-solution-for-Syrian-crisis--PYD-co-chair.Google Scholar
ANF (2017) PYD’s Moslem: Our Goal is a Democratic and Federal Syria. 27 September, https://anfenglish.com/rojava/pyd-s-moslem-our-goal-is-a-democratic-and-federal-syria-22384.Google Scholar
Arjona, A (2015) Civilian Resistance to Rebel Governance. In Arjona, A, Kasfir, N and Mampilly, Z (eds), Rebel Governance in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 180–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arjona, A, Kasfir, N and Mampilly, ZC (2015) (eds) Rebel Governance in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balanche, F (2018) The United States in Northeastern Syria: Geopolitical Strategy Cannot Ignore Local Reality. Hoover Institution Essay, www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/383981576-the-united-states-in-northeastern-syria-geopolitical-strategy-cannot-ignore-local-reality_1.pdf (accessed 1 October 2018).Google Scholar
Balcells, L and Kalyvas, SN (2015) Revolutionary Rebels and the Marxist Paradox. Unpublished manuscript, last modified April 2015.Google Scholar
Baracskay, D (2015) The Evolutionary Path of Hamas: Examining the Role of Political Pragmatism in State Building and Activism. Terrorism and Political Violence 27(3), 520–536. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2013.812035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barfi, B (2016) Ascent of the PYD and the SDF. Washington Institute for Near East Policy Research Note 32. www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/ResearchNote32-Barfi.pdf.Google Scholar
Barnard, A (2016) Syrian Kurds Hope to Establish a Federal Region in Country's North. New York Times, 16 March, www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/world/middleeast/syria-kurds.html (accessed 10 January 2018).Google Scholar
Berti, B (2013) Armed Political Organizations: From Conflict to Integration. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Berti, B (2015) Non-State Actors as Providers of Governance: The Hamas Government in Gaza between Effective Sovereignty, Centralized Authority, and Resistance. Middle East Journal 69(1), 9–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2016.1170008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biehl, J (2012) Bookchin, Öcalan, and the Dialectics of Democracy. Speech, Hamburg, 3–5 September, http://new-compass.net/articles/bookchin-%C3%B6calan-and-dialectics-democracy.Google Scholar
Broers, L (2014) Mirrors to the World: The Claims to Legitimacy and International Recognition of De Facto States in the South Caucasus. Brown Journal of World Affairs 20(2), 145–159.Google Scholar
Buchanan, A (2017) Secession. In Zalta, EN (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Stanford University. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/secession.Google Scholar
Burchfield, E (2017) PYD Governance in Northeastern Syria. SyriaSource blog, 7 February, www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/pyd-governance-in-northeastern-syria (accessed 15 December 2017).Google Scholar
Cafarella, J, Teoman, E with Hanlon, B (2018) Syria's ‘War after ISIS’ Begins as Turkey Attacks America's Anti-ISIS Partner, Institute for the Study of War, 20 January. http:///iswresearch.blogspot.com/2018/01/syrias-war-after-isis-begins-as-turkey.html.Google Scholar
Caspersen, N (2012) Unrecognized States. Cambridge: Polity Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheterian, V (2013) Kurdish Leader Denies Syrian Kurds Seek Secession. Al-Monitor, 2 October, www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/syria-kurd-pyd-saleh-muslim-secession.html#ixzz5csrZal8Q.Google Scholar
Clark, I (2001) The Post-Cold War Order: The Spoils of Peace. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Coggins, BL (2015) Rebel Diplomacy: Theorizing Violent Non-State Actors' Strategic Use of Talk. In Arjona, A, Kasfir, N and Mampilly, Z (eds), Rebel Governance in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 98–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwish, D (2016) Local Governance under the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Rojava. In Collombier, V, Favier, A and Narbone, L (eds), Inside Wars: Local Dynamics of Conflicts in Syria and Libya. San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute, pp. 16–21.Google Scholar
Davison, J and Perry, T (2017) After Victory in Raqqa over IS, Kurds Face Tricky Peace. Reuters, 17 October. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-raqqa-future-ana/after-victory-in-raqqa-over-is-kurds-face-tricky-peace-idUSKBN1CM2C6.Google Scholar
Duyvesteyn, I (2017) Rebels and Legitimacy: An Introduction. Small Wars and Insurgencies 28(4–5), 669–685. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2017.1322337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunter, M (2014) Unrecognized De Facto States in World Politics: The Kurds. Brown Journal of World Affairs 20(2), 161–178.Google Scholar
Gutman, R (2017) Have the Syrian Kurds Committed War Crimes? The Nation, 7 February, www.thenation.com/article/have-the-syrian-kurds-committed-war-crimes (accessed 5 March 2017).Google Scholar
Hatina, M (1999) Hamas and the Oslo Accords: Religious Dogma in a Changing Political Reality. Mediterranean Politics 4(3), 37–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629399908414698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland-McCowan, J (2017) War of Shadows: How Turkey's Conflict with the PKK Shapes the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi Kurdistan. ICSR Paper, http://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ICSR-Report-War-of-Shadows-How-Turkeys-Conflict-with-the-PKK-Shapes-the-Syrian-Civil-War-and-Iraqi-Kurdistan.pdf.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2014) Under Kurdish Rule: Abuses in PYD-Run Enclaves of Syria. 18 June, www.hrw.org/report/2014/06/19/under-kurdish-rule/abuses-pyd-run-enclaves-syria (accessed 10 September 2017).Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2015) Syria: Kurdish Forces Violating Child Soldier Ban. 15 July, www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/10/syria-kurdish-forces-violating-child-soldier-ban-0 (accessed 10 September 2017).Google Scholar
Ibrahim, MA and Schuster, J (2017) Thousands of Arabs Excluded from Elections in Syria's Kurdish-Majority North. Syria:direct, 2 August, https://syriadirect.org/news/%C2%A0-thousands-of-arabs-excluded-from-elections-in-syria%E2%80%99s-kurdish-majority-north (accessed 1 October 2018).Google Scholar
ICG (International Crisis Group) (2013) Syria's Kurds: A Struggle Within a Struggle. 22 January, www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/syria/syria-s-kurds-struggle-within-struggle (accessed 12 September 2017).Google Scholar
ICG (International Crisis Group) (2014) Flight of Icarus? The PYD's Precarious Rise in Syria. 8 May. www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/syria/flight-icarus-pyd-s-precarious-rise-syria (accessed 10 September 2017).Google Scholar
Idiz, S (2018) Turkish-Russian ‘Strategic Ties’ Fail Stress Test on Syria's Idlib. 12 September, www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/09/turkey-russia-syria-ankara-moscow-ties-fail-idlib-test.html#ixzz5csfmKHne (accessed 13 September 2018).Google Scholar
IFK (Institute for Peace Keeping and Conflict Management [of the Austrian National Defence Academy]) (2017) Weak States and Powerful Insurgencies: Armies and Militias in the Middle East. Conference report, Vienna, Austria, 17 November.Google Scholar
Ishiyama, J and Batta, A (2011) Swords into Plowshares: The Organizational Transformation of Rebel Groups into Political Parties. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 44(4), 369–379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2011.10.004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jo, H (2015) Compliant Rebels: Rebel Groups and International Law in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, MJ and Isaac, M (2018) Romancing Rojava: Rhetoric vs. Reality. Syria Comment, 31 July, www.joshualandis.com/blog/romancing-rojava-rhetoric-vs-reality (accessed 1 August 2018).Google Scholar
Kadercan, B (2018) Between a Rock and a Dynamite: American Options in the Face of the Turkish-YPG Crisis. War on the Rocks, 6 April, https://warontherocks.com/2018/04/between-a-rock-and-dynamite-american-options-in-the-face-of-the-turkish-ypg-crisis/ (accessed 18 July 2018).Google Scholar
Kasfir, N (2015) Rebel Governance: Constructing a Field of Inquiry: Definitions, Scope, Patterns, Order, Causes. In Arjona, A, Kasfir, N and Mampilly, Z (eds), Rebel Governance in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaya, Z and Lowe, R (2016) The Curious Question of the PYD–PKK Relationship. In Stansfield, G and Shareef, ME (eds), The Kurdish Question Revisited. London: Hurst Publishers, pp. 275–288.Google Scholar
Khalil, A (2017) Syria's Kurds Are Not the PKK. Foreign Policy, 15 May, https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/15/syrias-kurds-are-not-the-pkk-erdogan-pyd-ypg/.Google Scholar
Klapdor, D (2009) From Rebels to Politicians: Explaining Rebel-to-Party Transformations after Civil War. London School of Economics International Development Working Papers 94. www.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/pdf/WP/WP94.pdf.Google Scholar
Knapp, M, Flach, A and Ayboga, E (2016) Revolution in Rojava. London: Pluto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurdistan24 (2017) PYD'den Şam'a “Özerklik” yanıtı [PYD Responds to Damascus on ‘Autonomy’]. 30 September, www.kurdistan24.net/tr/news/2f4cb2d1-5092-4d9d-9c2e-6eb37ce9bc4c.Google Scholar
Leezenberg, M (2016) The Ambiguities of Democratic Autonomy: The Kurdish Movement in Turkey and Rojava. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 16(4), 671–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowe, R (2016) Rojava at 4: Examining the Experiment in Western Kurdistan. London: LSE Middle East Centre Workshop Proceedings, Middle East Centre, LSE.Google Scholar
Mampilly, ZC (2011) Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Mampilly, ZC (2013) Rebel Governance and the Syrian War. Memo prepared for the Political Science of Syria's War, Project on Middle East Political Science, https://pomeps.org/2014/02/12/rebel-governance-and-the-syrian-war.Google Scholar
Manning, C (2007) Party-Building on the Heels of War: El Salvador, Bosnia, Kosovo and Mozambique. Democratization 14(2), 253–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mneimneh, H (2018) Rojava Should Wait for the New Syria. Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 24 January, www.washingtoninstitute.org/fikraforum/view/rojava-should-wait-for-the-new-syria (accessed 12 October 2018).Google Scholar
Muhammad, U (2018) An Unsuitable Theorist? Murray Bookchin and the PKK. Turkish Studies 19(5), 799–817. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2018.1480370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Natali, D (2005) The Kurds and the State: Evolving National Identity in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Orton, K (2017) The Error of Arming the Syrian Kurds. New York Times, 6 June, www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/opinion/syria-kurds-isis-raqqa.html (accessed 15 December 2018).Google Scholar
Orton, K (2018) Human Rights Abuses in Rojava. Diplomatic Observer 121, 14–21. https://kyleorton1991.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/human-rights-abuses-in-rojava-danger-to-the-anti-is-mission.pdf.Google Scholar
Özdemir, M (2017) Rojava seçime gidiyor, ENKS'nin kararı boykot [Rojava Heads Toward Elections, KNC Boycotts]. BAS News, 8 August, www.basnews.com/index.php/tr/news/369308 (accessed 25 October 2018).Google Scholar
Perry, T, Francis, E and Bassam, L (2017) Assad Sets Sights on Kurdish Areas, Risking New Syria Conflict. Reuters, 31 October, www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-analysis/assad-sets-sights-on-kurdish-areas-risking-new-syria-conflict-idUSKBN1D02CN (accessed 15 December 2018).Google Scholar
Podder, S (2017) Understanding the Legitimacy of Armed Groups: A Relational Perspective. Small Wars and Insurgencies 28(4–5), 686–708. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2017.1322333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Policzer, P (2006) Democracy and Non-State Armed Groups. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Marriott, Loews Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA, 31 August.Google Scholar
Reilly, B and Nordlund, P (eds) (2008) Political Parties in Conflict-Prone Societies: Regulation, Engineering and Democratic Development. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.Google Scholar
Richards, P (2005) No Peace, No War: An Anthropology of Contemporary Armed Conflicts. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Savelsberg, E (2018) The PKK-YPG in Syria. Conference Proceedings, SETAV, 14 February.Google Scholar
Seymour, L (2017) Legitimacy and the Politics of Recognition in Kosovo. Small Wars and Insurgencies 28(4–5), 817–838. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2017.1322335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sindre, GM (2016) Internal Party Democracy in Former Rebel Parties. Party Politics 22(4), 501–511. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068814550436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sindre, GM and Söderström, J (2016) Understanding Armed Groups and Party Politics. Civil Wars 18(2), 109–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2016.1205559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sly, L (2015) They Freed a Syrian Town from ISIS. Now They Have to Govern It. Washington Post, 30 October, www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-challenges-of-governing-after-the-islamic-state/2015/10/30/8985938c-7673-11e5-a5e2-40d6b2ad18dd_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.377182ecc790.Google Scholar
Solomon, E and Srivastava, M (2016) Kurds to Announce Federal Region in Northern Syria. Financial Times, 16 March, www.ft.com/content/35db27ea-eb6e-11e5-888e-2eadd5fbc4a4.Google Scholar
Staniland, P (2015) Armed Politics and the Study of Intrastate Conflict. Paper presented at American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Staniland, P (2017) Armed Politics and the Study of Intrastate Conflict. Journal of Peace Research 54(4), 459–467. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343317698848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teoman, E and Cafarella, J (2018) Turkey Threatens New Attacks in Syria and Iraq. Institute for the Study of War. http://iswresearch.blogspot.com/2018/03/turkey-threatens-new-attacks-in-syria.html.Google Scholar
Voller, Y (2015) Contested Sovereignty as an Opportunity: Understanding Democratic Transitions in Unrecognized States. Democratization 22(4), 610–630. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2013.856418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagemakers, J (2010) Legitimizing Pragmatism: Hamas' Framing Efforts From Militancy to Moderation and Back? Terrorism and Political Violence 22(3), 357–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546551003765942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinstein, J (2006) Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkofsky, D and Fatah, K (2017) Northern Syria's Anti-Islamic State Coalition Has an Arab Problem. War on the Rocks, 17 September, https://warontherocks.com/2017/09/northern-syrias-anti-islamic-state-coalition-has-an-arab-problem.Google Scholar
Wittig, K (2016) Politics in the Shadow of the Gun: Revisiting the Literature on ‘Rebel-to-Party Transformations’ Through the Case of Burundi. Civil Wars 18(2), 137–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2016.1205561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yassin-Kassab, R and Al-Shami, L (2016) Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War. London: Pluto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeeuw, J. de (2008) From Soldiers to Politicians: Transforming Rebel Movements After Civil War. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar
Ziriğ, S (2014) 101 Soruda Demokratik Özerkli [Democratic Autonomy in 101 Questions]. Istanbul: Aram Yayınları.Google Scholar