Rebel governance and gender in northeast Syria: Transformative ideology as a challenge to negotiating power

Rebel governance and gender in northeast Syria: Transformative ideology as a challenge to negotiating power

Pinar Tank of the Peace Research Institute Oslo examines self-rule in northeast Syria through the lens of gender. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) built its autonomy project on democratic confederalism, in which women’s equality is central. That commitment, she shows, has been a powerful mobilising force, drawing in women who were traditionally excluded from power in Kurdish society and becoming a cornerstone of the Rojava revolution.

The same commitment, however, creates friction with local tribes whose cooperation the administration needs to hold the northeast together, and Turkish military interventions have increased the tribes’ strategic weight. Tank asks how a movement that is no longer a small vanguard can balance its gender principles against the need to keep broad support, and uses this case to explore the difficulties a transformative ideology faces when negotiating with entrenched social structures. The article is open access.

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