The Separatist Forms of Government in the Middle East: A Case Study of Rojava Autonomous Region (Northern Syria)

Abstract

This article aims to study the forms of governance within the territory occupied by the Kurdish people who live in northern Syria or known as “Rojava”, and the administration focused on the important of people’s participation in community. The origin of this land is the aftermath event called “Arab Spring”, in Arab world which has turned into a civil war in the Middle East region. Thus, this allowed Kurdish groups in Syria to unite and hold a referendum in order to request a separation and establish an autonomous region by adhering to the principle of the people racial inclusion in the area. The framework of study is focused on the nature of the Kurdish rule’s style in the war-torn Rojava region, the result showed “the Rojava Autonomous Region” had a new form of governance known as “the Federal Democratic Republic”. Which is not appear to have a Constitution, Head of state, Central government, the police, or even the state army. But, it is the government that emphasizes all power bases give to the community in each location where also known as “communes”. Furthermore, the administrative powers of the communes in each place cannot interfere with the governance between them, and there are the independent local administrations in each other. Each community consists of The 6 Parts Community Committee as follows: 1) Self-Defense Committee, 2) Health Committee, 3) Peace Committee 4), Economic Committee 5), Education Committee/Youth Committee, and 6) Women's Committee. All of these are the highest political institution power which has to govern each community; it is based on the principle of power from the bottom up, and integrates the principles of checks and balances within the community all together. Each commune does not need to take  account the provisions, rules, penalties are different from other communes in any way.