Abstract
ABSTRACTAs part of research on the meso-foundations of conflict, the field of ‘rebel governance’ examines political institutions that regulate the affairs of civilians in wartime as well as their relations with armed actors. Judicial institutions play an important role in this and research has shown that they are widespread among both historical and current insurgencies. However, usually these bodies have been analysed in the context of one hegemonic faction like the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the Afghan Taliban. What is missing so far is an analysis of different pathways of (trans)formation of rebel courts. As exemplified by the three case studies of judicial institutions in Eastern Ghouta, Idlib and Aleppo, these are shaped by the distribution of power between ‘same-side’ groups, yielding unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar constellations. The analysis is located on the meso or movement level of insurgent social structures, complementing research on the micro and macro levels.
Highlights
It is natural that in any country in which a war occurs, criminals, bandits and gangs proliferate
What is missing so far is an analysis of different pathways offormation of rebel courts which can exist under conditions of unipolarity or hegemony, bipolarity, and multipolarity. These power constellations were present in the three opposition regions in Syria analysed here: only for the duration of 2 years, the Judicial Council in Eastern Ghouta attained a remarkable degree of stability and strength in the besieged enclave compared to judicial institutions in other opposition areas
As I will show, these power constellations of hegemony, bipolarity, and multipolarity in the judicial sector are strongly connected to the internal military situation between groups that fight on the same side of the Syrian civil war
Summary
It is natural that in any country in which a war occurs, criminals, bandits and gangs proliferate. What is missing so far is an analysis of different pathways of (trans)formation of rebel courts which can exist under conditions of unipolarity or hegemony (i.e. one dominant insurgent group), bipolarity (two dominant groups), and multipolarity (no dominant group). These power constellations were present in the three opposition regions in Syria analysed here: only for the duration of 2 years, the Judicial Council in Eastern Ghouta attained a remarkable degree of stability and strength in the besieged enclave compared to judicial institutions in other opposition areas. As I will show, these power constellations of hegemony, bipolarity, and multipolarity in the judicial sector are strongly connected to the internal military situation between groups that fight on the same side of the Syrian civil war. The focus is mostly on structures, institutions, and interactions in this arena and not on the substance of the law applied, which is an important topic in its own right. By analysing institutional dynamics and interactions between armed factions, my analysis is located on the meso or movement level of insurgent social structures, which complements research on the micro and macro levels
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