From Cooperation to Competition: Localization, Militarization and Rebel Co-Governance Arrangements in Syria

The article explores the complex interaction between war-dynamics and non-state armed groups’ approaches to governance and politics at the local, sub-national level. It focuses on understanding how broader conflict trends influence rebel groups’ choices with respect to establishing local governance partnerships, both with civilian agents and other armed factions. The study examines this question through the lens of the Syrian landscape and through an overview of local governance arrangements by Jabhat al-Nusra1 in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces between 2012 and 2017. In tracing the evolution of rebel co-governance arrangements at the local level,2 the article highlights two dynamics: first, how the breakdown of centralized governance and the gradual processed of militarization of local authority3 altered the balance between civilian and armed actors, shifting power in the hands of the latter. Second, how the combination of prolonged strategic stalemate, resource scarcity and ideological competition between armed factions resulted in a shift from cooperative to competitive rebel governance. The article seeks to further nuance the study of rebel governance and rebel-to-political transitions by focusing on how multi-level relationships affect armed groups’ governance choices.4