Thinking Beyond the Divide: the Complex Relationships Between State/Non-state Armed Actors in Syria’s War

In this new book chapter, Helle Malmvig explores how armed non-state actors continue to challenge or subvert the authority of the Syrian government. Even militias who are formally aligned with the regime refuse to abide by local ceasefires, deny the Syrian Army access or keep competing lists of males for military service. The Syrian state
is in this sense far from intact, neither does the government rule smoothly over, or through, the many armed non-state actors within its territory. Rather, Syria can be seen as a hybrid order of shifting nodes of governance, a space in which multiple school systems, border controls, currencies, and official documents intersect and compete. Instead of resorting to concepts of state weakness or failure, Syria may be approached as a fragmented political patchwork of overlapping and entangled authorities, where multiple and shifting armed groups intersect, overlie and at times substitute the Syrian government. This chapter is part of the book 'Violent Non-State Actors in Modern Conflict' edited by Brown, Murray, Riemann, Rossi, Smith. Howgate Publishing 2021.