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ABSTRACT
While scholars have focused on rebel governance in Syria and elsewhere, other forms of governance have been neglected. This article explores the local council established in the rebel-held city of Daraya, Syria. It informs the fields of rebel governance and civil resistance, specifically wartime order, during civil wars and proposes that the forms and practices of local governance in Daraya exhibited a type of governance best labelled as ‘civilocracy’. In contrast to councils in other opposition-held parts of Syria, the council was established and led by civilians who welcomed rebels to work with them. Based on findings from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with former council members, the article finds that four factors were crucial for this form of governance to emerge and to endure. Key wartime events – a massacre and a siege –, earlier experiences of nonviolent activists, local ties, and the creation of a military office created a space for the maintenance of civil-led order. Daraya offers a fascinating example of how community’s norms affected how rebel governance was created and maintained. This research introduces a new concept to explain wartime order and encourages researchers to find causal explanations for the emergence of this particular governance form in other conflicts.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to James Worrall, Marika Sosnowski, Shane Barter and Hannu Juusola for their generous feedback. I also wish to thank for comments made at ISA Annual Convention 2022 by Landon Hancock, Kristen Williams, Regine Schwab, Jennifer Hodge, and Cécile Mouly, and at Korbel Research Seminar at the University of Denver in 2022, especially by Deborah Avant, Oliver Kaplan, Aaron Pilkington, Dogus Aktan, and Nazneen Barma. Thank you also to the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and the editors of this special issue and journal. I am forever grateful for the Darayans who shared their experiences with me. This research has been supported by the Finnish Institute in the Middle East, the Alfred Kordelin Foundation, and the Finnish Cultural Foundation under Grant 00220361. An ethics approval was received from the University of Helsinki Ethical Review Board in Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences under Statement 12/2021. Any remaining errors are my own.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. Eddin et al. August, Afterward, 5 Stories of Love.
2. Thomson, Syria’s Secret Library; Minoui, The Book Collectors of Daraya.
3. Interview 9.
4. Khalaf, Governance Without Government in Syria; Omran, Changing the Security Sector in Syria.
5. Berti, From Cooperation to Competition; Heller, Keeping the Lights on in Idlib.
6. Sosnowski, Ceasefires; The Syria Campaign, Daraya; Enab Baladi, The Local Council of the City Daraya.
7. Gowrinathan and Mampilly, Resistance and Repression.
8. Pfeifer and Schwab, Politicising the Rebel Governance Paradigm.
9. Arjona, Wartime Institutions, 1374; Waterman and Worrall 2020.
10. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 26.
11. Arjona, Wartime Institutions, 1375.
12. Mitchell and Nan, Local Peace Zones.
13. The names of all research participants have been anonymised for security reasons.
14. Pearlman, Memory as a Field Site.
15. Fieldwork inside Syria was not possible for security reasons.
16. Yanow and Schwartz-Shea, Interpretation and Method.
17. Poopuu, Dialogical Research Design; Kaplan, Balancing Rigor.
18. Kaplan, Balancing Rigor.
19. Arjona, Kasfir and Mampilly, Introduction, 3.
20. Arjona, Wartime Institutions.
21. Amiri, and Jackson, Taliban Taxation in Afghanistan.
22. Schwab, Insurgent Courts.
23. Kasfir, Guerrillas and Civilian Participation.
24. Arjona, Rebelocracy; Mampilly and Stewart, A Typology of Rebel.
25. Reno, Predatory Rebellions.
26. Terpstra and Frerks, Rebel Governance and Legitimacy.
27. Barter, The Rebel State in Society.
28. Hirschel-Burns, Sowing the Seeds.
29. Arjona, Civilian Resistance, 184–185; Rubin, Rebel Territorial Control, 465.
30. Kasfir, Guerrillas and Civilian Participation, 273–274.
31. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 34–35.
32. Institutions; Arjona, Civilian Resistance.
33. Mampilly and Stewart, A Typology of Rebel.
34. van Baalen, Local Elites.
35. Weinstein, Inside Rebellion, 173.
36. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 26.
37. See, for example, Avant et al. Civil Action; Krause, Resilient Communities; Suarez, Living between Two Lions; Kaplan, Resisting War; Arjona, Civilian Resistance.
38. Jackson, Weigand and Tindall, Understanding Agency.
39. Kaplan, Nudging Armed Groups.
40. van Baalen, Local Elites, 7–8.
41. Hancock and Mitchell, Zones of Peace; Mitchell and Nan, Local Peace Zones.
42. Hall, Building Bridges at the Grassroots, 12–14.
43. Garcia, Filipino Zones of Peace.
44. Weinstein, Inside Rebellion, 188.
45. Gowrinathan and Mampilly, Resistance and Repression; van Baalen, Local Elites.
46. Kasfir, Guerrillas and Civilian Participation, 274; Barter, The Rebel State in Society, 231.
47. Arjona, Rebelocracy, 224–226.
48. Kaplan, Resisting War, 79–83.
49. Ley, Mattiace, and Trejo, Indigenous Resistance.
50. Contrary to this, Daraya does have strategic significance because it is situated close to Syrian Air Force’s Mezzeh air base. Sosnowski, Ceasefires, 281.
51. Förster, Dialogue Direct, 213
52. Kasfir, Guerrillas and Civilian Participation, 286–288.
53. Arjona, Rebelocracy.
54. Arjona, Wartime Institutions, 1375.
55. Arjona, Civilian Resistance, 183–184.
56. Waterman and Worrall, Spinning Multiple Plates, 569.
57. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 25.
58. Kaplan, Resisting War, 9, emphasis in the original.
59. Arjona, Wartime Institutions, 1374.
60. Worrall, (Re-)Emergent Orders, 711.
61. Richter and Barrios Sabogal, Dynamics of Peace.
62. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 38.
63. Waterman and Worrall, Spinning Multiple Plates, 571, 576.
64. Arjona, Wartime Institutions, 1375.
65. Waterman and Worrall, Spinning Multiple Plates, 576.
66. Kaplan, Resisting War, 34.
67. Interview 9; Kasf, Water Bottles & Roses.
68. Interview 5; Interview 9; Yassin-Kassab and Shami, Burning Country, 53.
69. Interview 5; Interview 7; Interview 9.
70. Interview 5.
71. Syrians for Truth and Justice, Daraya: Nine Years After, 4, 6.
72. Interview 9.
73. Yassin-Kassab and Shami, Burning Country, 169.
74. di Giovanni, Syria Crisis: Daraya Massacre.
75. Interview 5; Syrians for Truth and Justice, Daraya: Nine Years After, 7.
76. Interview 1.
77. Yassin-Kassab and Shami, Burning Country, 169; Syrians for Truth and Justice, Daraya: Nine Years After, 11, 20.
78. Amnesty International, Syria: Voices in the Crisis; Aljazeera, Syria: Evacuation of Daraya.
79. The Syrian Observer, Daraya: After 800 Days of Siege.
80. Interview 5; Interview 7.
81. Interview 9; Human Rights Watch, Syria: Incendiary Weapons.
82. Interview 3.
83. Enab Baladi, The Regime Closes.
84. Nebehay and Davison, U.N. convoys bring food.
85. Enab Baladi, The Regime Closes.
86. Interview 2; Shaheen, Syrian Civil Defence Group.
87. Loris-Rodionoff, Démocratie rebelle.
88. Interview 4; Interview 6; Aljazeera, Syria: Evacuation of Daraya.
89. Interview 3; Sosnowski, Ceasefires, 283.
90. Kaplan, Resisting War, 4.
91. Interview 4.
92. Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Local Administration Structures, 16–17.
93. Ley, Mattiace, and Trejo, Indigenous Resistance, 182.
94. Interview 9.
95. Interview 9; Yassin-Kassab and Shami, Burning Country, 68.
96. Interview 5; Interview 7; Loris-Rodionoff, Démocratie rebelle.
97. Interview 9.
98. Huntington, The Soldier and the State.
99. Ibid.
100. Interview 4.
101. Ibid.
102. Interview 9.
103. Interview 5.
104. Interview 7.
105. Interview 2.
106. Interview 6.
107. Interview 9.
108. Ibid.
109. Interview 5; Interview 7.
110. Interview 5; Interview 9; Loris-Rodionoff, Démocratie rebelle.
111. Interview 4; Interview 5.
112. Interview 7; Interview 9; Enab Baladi, The Local Council of the City Daraya.
113. Interview 3.
114. Barter, The Rebel State in Society, 236.
115. Interview 9.
116. Syria in Brief, The CIA’s TOW Program; Browne, Syria’s Thermopylae.
117. Interview 9; Daraya Local Council, Summary about Islamic Martyrs’ Brigade.
118. Interview 3; Interview 5.
119. Interview 5; Interview 9; Syria in Brief, The CIA’s TOW Program.
120. Smaller armed groups present in Daraya during the siege were, for example, Katabet Sahabet (Interview 3) and, under al-Ittihad al-Islami, Al-Miqdad bin Amr Brigade and Saad bin Abi Waqqas Brigade, the first two originally from Kafr Sousah (Interview 7; Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Implications of Daraya Exiting, 2).
121. Interview 2, Interview 7.
122. Interview 3.
123. Interview 1; Interview 7.
124. Amnesty International, Syria: Voices in the Crisis.
125. Enab Baladi, The Regime Closes.
126. Interview 9.
127. Interview 1.
128. Interview 4.
129. Interview 2.
130. Mazur, Revolution in Syria, 224.
131. Interview 1; Interview 5.
132. Interview 1; Interview 2; Interview 4.
133. Interview 5.
134. Browne, Syria’s Thermopylae.
135. Interview 2.
136. Interview 3; Interview 4; Interview 5; Interview 9; Eddin et al., Afterword: 5 Stories of Love.
137. Kadushin, Understanding Social Networks, 36.
138. Staniland, Networks of Rebellion, 20–21.
139. Gould, Multiple Networks.
140. Parkinson, Organizing Rebellion; Hamilton, Women and ETA.
141. Interview 6.
142. Mampilly and Stewart, A Typology of Rebel, 25.
143. Grubb, The Impact of Civil Action, 132–133.
144. Interview 4.
145. Interview 5; Interview 9.
146. Interview 3.
147. Interview 3.
148. Enab Baladi, Commander of the Lions.
149. The Day After, Syrian Local Councils, 8.
150. Interview 1; Interview 3.
151. Interview 3.
152. Interview 4; Thomson, Syria’s Secret Library.
153. Interview 4.
154. Being perceived as ‘revolutionary’ made the Syrian regime to consider people as ‘terrorists’. Leaving the besieged area and seeking services from the state (Rubin, Rebel Territorial Control, 479) was not possible for all as it could lead to human rights violations towards fighters and civilians alike.
155. Interview 5.
156. Arjona, Civilian Resistance, 184–185.
157. Rubin, Rebel Territorial Control, 465.
158. Enab Baladi, To prevent ‘splitting of the ranks’.
159. Interview 3.
160. Förster, Dialogue Direct.
161. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 38.
162. Interview 9; Enab Baladi, The Local Council of the City Daraya; Sosnowski, Ceasefires, 282.
163. Interview 8.
164. Interview 2.
165. Interview 8; Loris-Rodionoff, Démocratie rebelle.
166. Interview 5; Interview 9.
167. Interview 9.
168. The Day After, Syrian Local Councils, 12.
169. Interview 3; Interview 4.
170. Waterman and Worrall, Spinning Multiple Plates, 571.
171. Interview 3.
172. Interview 9.
173. Interview 4; Interview 9.
174. Interview 2; Interview 3.
175. Interview 4.
176. van Baalen, Local Elites, 8.
177. Interview 4.
178. Interview 5.
179. Interview 2; Interview 4.
180. Huntington, The Soldier and the State.
181. Interview 2; Interview 6.
182. Interview 9.
183. Enab Baladi, A Large Security Campaign.
184. Interview 7.
185. Interview 4.
186. Worrall, (Re-)Emergent Orders, 711–712.
187. Kaplan, Protecting Civilians in Civil War.
188. Interview 2; Interview 7.
189. Interview 9; Enab Baladi, The Local Council of the City Daraya.
190. Interview 1; Interview 2; Interview 3.
191. Interview 1; Interview 3.
192. Interview 4.
193. Interview 3.
194. Ibid.
195. Interview 4.
196. Enab Baladi, The Center for Public Security.
197. Barter, The Rebel State in Society, 238–240.
198. About similar rules in Côte d’Ivoire, see Förster, Dialogue Direct.
199. Interview 1.
200. Interview 9.
201. Interview 9; Interview 5. It was referred to in Arabic as lajna rʾiasya and hayʾat rʾiasya (Interview 5; Interview 7).
202. Interview 5.
203. Interview 9.
204. Ibid.
205. Interview 4.
206. Arjona, Kasfir and Mampilly, Introduction.
207. Waterman and Worrall, Spinning Multiple Plates, 571.
208. Worrall and Penziner Hightower, Methods in the Madness?, 8–12.
209. Wessels, Killing the Dispensables, 17.
210. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 40; Kasfir, Guerrillas and Civilian Participation, 281.
211. Syria Untold, Cities in Revolution.
212. Interview 3.
213. Kasfir, Guerrillas and Civilian Participation, 272.
214. The Syrian Observer, An Interview with the Head of the.
215. LDO, Movie| Douma Local Council.
216. The Syrian Observer, An Interview with the Head of the.
217. Waterman and Worrall, Spinning Multiple Plates, 569.
218. Interview 7; Interview 9.
219. Kasfir, Guerrillas and Civilian Participation; Ley, Mattiace, and Trejo, Indigenous Resistance, 182.
220. Arjona, Institutions; Arjona, Civilian Resistance, 116; Arjona,Rebelocracy.
221. Gould, Multiple Networks.
222. Kasfir, Rebel Governance, 38.
223. Arjona, Institutions, Civilian Resistance, 116; Arjona, Rebelocracy.
224. Heller, Keeping the Lights on in Idlib.
225. Arjona, Rebelocracy.
226. Omran, Changing the Security Sector in Syria.
227. Khalaf, Governance Without Government, 61.
228. Masullo, Refusing to Cooperate, 20.
229. Arjona, Institutions; Mampilly and Stewart, A Typology of Rebel.
230. Kaplan, Nudging Armed Groups.
231. Interview 3; Interview 4.
232. Worrall, (Re-)Emergent Orders, 711–712.
233. Interview 2; Interview 7.
234. Arjona, Wartime Institutions.
235. Kocak, Rebel Security Governance.
236. Masullo, Refusing to Cooperate, 18.
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Tiina Hyyppä
Tiina Hyyppä is a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include civil actors in wars, civil resistance, and rebel governance in Syria and the wider Middle East.