Governance of Resistance in Northern Syria: The Experience of Rojava

How does a resistant- armed group govern and implement an alternative political programme during war?Governance of Resistance in North and East Syria examines the momentous development of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration since 2012. The creation of this unprecedented, ideologically radical entity is of immense significance in Kurdish, Syrian and Middle Eastern history and for discourses of nationalism and identity. Rojava has been transformational for the local population, the course of the Syrian war, and for regional geopolitics. The movement’s commitment to an accommodation within Syria and to a new form of inclusive politics makes it an essential component of the post-Assad settlement.

This book presents new research from the expanding scholarship to interrogate Rojava as a political and social idea and explain the resistance narrative that underpins the ideology and governance structures. The contributions examine key aspects of the condition of the autonomous government, its successes, failures and impact, including the theory and nature of the political structures, their application in Arab areas, identity, education, gender and foreign relations. The findings demonstrate that North and East Syria has been revolutionary, that resistance there is resilient, and that there are constant and dynamic tensions between ideology and pragmatism in the evolution of this remarkable political and social project.

Zeynep Kaya is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sheffield, UK. She is the author of
Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism (2020). Zeynep is co-editor of I.B. Tauris’s Kurdish Studies Series and is also a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre, UK, and an Academic Associate at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, UK.

Robert Lowe is Deputy Director of the LSE Middle East Centre, UK. He is co-editor of I.B. Tauris’s Kurdish Studies Series. He has co-edited two collected volumes and has published extensively on Kurdish politics, particularly in Syria.