War making and state-making in Northeast Syria : understanding Quasi-State activities of the Democratic Union Party

Akgul, Musa and Misra, Amalendu (2025) War making and state-making in Northeast Syria : understanding Quasi-State activities of the Democratic Union Party. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

Text (2025musaakgülphd)
2025musaakgu_lphd.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs.
Download (3MB)

Abstract

This study focuses on the quasi-state activities of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northeast Syria between 2012 and 2019. The PYD claims to be building a model of „Democratic Autonomy‟ and „Democratic Confederalism‟ based on the teachings of Abdullah Öcalan. The literature generally portrays this model as a „stateless‟ form of governance in contrast to the nation-state model. However, building on the bellicist tradition and Charles Tilly's theory of war-making and state-making, I analyze the relationship between the Syrian civil war and the formation of a state-like entity by the PYD. This qualitative case study reveals a significant gap between the PYD‟s discourse and practices, drawing on various primary and secondary sources. The PYD is involved in state-making activities through its war-making capabilities, organizational preparations, ideological power, and alliances with domestic and foreign actors. The PYD‟s state-building mechanisms include administration, territorial control, monopolization of violence, military conscription, protection and security, judicial structure, public services, economic regulation, a taxation system, and diplomatic relations. Moreover, the PYD employs diverse identity-building strategies to legitimize its authority. This empirical study highlights broader implications regarding the rise of violent non-state actors (VNSAs) and the emergence of state-like entities in contemporary Middle Eastern conflicts. It demonstrates how such actors undertake governance activities and replicate modern state-building mechanisms in the context of state failure. This study also presents how an ethno-nationalist VNSA constructs a distinct territorial identity and geopolitical discourse through a territorialization process akin to state sovereignty, enhancing the understanding of how state-seeking nationalism influences governance, identity-building, and legitimization activities of separatist VNSAs.