Description
Abstract:
International Relations has long treated sovereignty as synonymous with statehood, leaving limited conceptual space for stateless nations and sub-state actors. This paper reimagines Kurdish sovereignty as a practice of autonomy enacted through governance, culture, and diplomacy rather than as a pursuit of full independence. It argues that sovereignty in the Kurdish context is layered and relational, negotiated among domestic, regional, and transnational actors rather than territorially absolute.
Empirically, the study examines how Kurdish actors exercise and contest authority across four regimes: the Kurdistan Regional Government’s institutionalised autonomy within Iraq’s federation; Rojava’s experiment in democratic confederalism amid Syria’s fragmentation; Turkey’s post-Erdogan recalibration and oscillation between repression and pragmatic engagement; and Iran’s ongoing securitisation of Kurdish activism. These cases illustrate how distinct political systems produce a spectrum of sovereignties without states.
Drawing on post-national and decolonial theories of sovereignty (Hardt & Negri, Agnew, Mbembe, Barkawi & Laffey), the paper demonstrates how Kurdish governance practices challenge Eurocentric and state-centric assumptions at the heart of International Studies. It contends that Kurdish political practice offers a model for understanding sovereignty as adaptive, negotiated, and embedded in cultural life.
