Description
This paper explores how familial loyalties impact the loyalty of non-state militants to their organisation at different stages of engagement. Drawing on original empirical research into the experiences of Kurdish fighters in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey, this paper argues that family members can have a powerful emotional influence on individuals, affecting party loyalty either positively or negatively. My findings demonstrate that familial attachments can affect a militant’s loyalties at each stage of involvement, from pre-engagement to recruitment, engagement and disengagement. This paper progresses our understanding of the concept of loyalty and how it operates in the context of non-state armed groups – a concept that has been largely overlooked by International Relations scholarship (Poulsen, 2020). It also contributes to the emerging body of research that considers the role of emotions in political violence and civil war.
