17 - Decentralization in State Disintegration

Summary

The highly centralized character of governance in Syria obscures the state’s long history of experimentation with decentralization. This chapter traces the origins of administrative decentralization and the state of governance in Syria, covering the situation prior to the uprising of 2011, and continuing through 2017, a period of fragmentation of authority between the Bashar al-Assad government, the Arab opposition, and Kurdish parties. The chapter describes how each of these three systems reviewed have adapted and responded to the others, creating a set of complex dynamics that will likely continue to echo into Syria’s political future. Even as opposition areas face collapse, and the future of Kurdish Rojava is increasingly uncertain, local governance modalities developed in these areas continue to operate even in regions retaken by the government. The continued experimentation and local decision-making taking place within these local bodies may well have implications for Syria, and the broader Middle East, for decades to come.