Description
Over the past few decades, scholarship on 'ungoverned spaces', or 'areas of limited statehood', has expanded dramatically. Such studies generally focus on those armed or rebellious actors who seek to reproduce or replace the State with some equally hierarchical, coercively-controlled entity. In a few notable instances, however, historical circumstances have emerged that are favourable to radical experiments in alternative governance models. This paper will look at two such cases -- Somaliland and Rojava: the former an improvised peace compact between clans, the latter an ideologically inspired project of democratic confederalism. Despite surfacing under relatively different circumstances, with Somaliland, an isolated African nation, established following state collapse, and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, existing amidst a multipronged anti-state insurgency, a transnational jihadist movement, and the central government, the two political entities also exhibit certain interesting parallels. The paper, which draws upon the respective area specialisms of the two co-authors, will offer a comparative analysis of Somaliland and Rojava, in order to better understand the distinct imaginaries and practices of political community that such non-State experiments operate under. The goal will be to explore the prospects for alternative political and territorial models that go beyond stabilisation and elite compact, and which also work to address, at least to a certain extent, issues of egalitarianism and justice.
