Understanding “Foreign Policy” of the PYD/YPG as a Non-State Actor in Syria and Beyond

Abstract

The Middle East has become a battleground for armed non-state actors (ANSAs), and investigation reveals that these regional actors, excluding the PYD, constantly gain or lose territory. Considering the fact that these territorial losses and gains are determined to a great extent by cooperation and conflict among non-state actors (NSAs), the PYD, unlike other NSAs, has a network of foreign relations which functions consistently and pragmatically. Although the military activity of NSAs can lead to deterioration of their relations with others, the PYD has managed to develop its foreign relations, retain its territorial holds, and consolidate popular support, notwithstanding the presence of other rival Kurdish groups and the many-sided conflicts in Syria. The important question here is: Despite marginal differences what is it that enables the PYD to develop a consistent foreign policy unlike other NSAs? Is it legitimate to say that global actors, especially the USA and Russia, support the PYD exclusively because of its professed secular ideology? How does the PYD build its ties with local, regional, and global actors notwithstanding the ideological and strategic differences? To put it differently, how does the PYD manage to get support from both the USA and Russia? In fact, all these questions touch upon the issue of resources and structures that allow the PYD to differentiate itself from other ANSAs. This study will account for the parameters that render it possible for the PYD to develop a “foreign policy” at the local, regional, and global level.