Join the LSE Middle East Centre for the launch of 'Governance of Resistance in North and East Syria: The Experience of Rojava', edited by Zeynep Kaya and Robert Lowe, and published by Bloomsbury.
'Governance of Resistance in North and East Syria' examines the momentous development of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration since 2012. The creation of this unprecedented, ideologically radical entity is of immense significance in Kurdish, Syrian and Middle Eastern history and for discourses of nationalism and identity. This book presents new research from the expanding scholarship to interrogate Rojava as a political and social idea and explain the resistance narrative that underpins the ideology and governance structures. The contributions examine key aspects of the condition of the autonomous government, its successes, failures and impact, including the theory and nature of the political structures, their application in Arab areas, identity, education, gender and foreign relations. The findings demonstrate that North and East Syria has been revolutionary, that resistance there is resilient, and that there are constant and dynamic tensions between ideology and pragmatism in the evolution of this remarkable political and social project. The speakers at this event will also discuss fast-moving developments in north and east Syria.
Meet our speakers
Stephen Knight is a doctoral student at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. His ethnographic research explores the application of international humanitarian law by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Outside of the field of law Stephen's research also looks at the interaction between mythology and political movements. Stephen also practises as a barrister, specialising in the interactions between criminal law, protest law, immigration law, and public law. He has forthcoming works in the fields of trafficking law and Kurdish mythology.
Thomas McGee is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of legal and social studies of the Middle East, with particular emphasis on Kurdish dynamics in the Syrian context. He is a Max Weber fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, and completed his PhD on “Syria’s Changing Statelessness Landscape: 2011 as Critical Juncture” at Melbourne Law School’s Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness. Thomas has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. He has previously published on a wide variety of topics in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, International Migration Review, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Genocide Studies International and the Kurdish Studies journal (For more on Thomas’ publications, see his Google Scholar profile). Currently, Thomas is developing his PhD for publication as a monograph.
Dastan Jasim is a Research Engineer at the Dauphine University in Paris and an Associate Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies. Her research focuses on political culture, democratization and security studies.
William Smith is a researcher and practitioner on conflict and stabilisation with over ten years' professional experience working in the Middle East, primarily on Syria. Between 2021 and 2022 William led a 'Track 2' peacebuilding initiative in northeast Syria (NES), with regular engagement with the Autonomous Administration and the SDF/SDC, and subsequently conducted research on challenges to stabilisation efforts in NES through the FCDO-funded XCEPT programme. He is currently providing research and analysis on FCDO-funded programming in the Occupied Palesitinian Territories.
Meet our chair
Zeynep Kaya is Lecturer in International Relations at the School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield since 2021. She previously worked at the LSE and SOAS. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the LSE. Her main research areas involve borderlands, territoriality, conflict, peace, political legitimacy and gender. She has recently published a monograph entitled Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism with Cambridge University Press. Zeynep is co-editor of I.B. Tauris-Bloomsbury’s book series on Kurdish studies and co-convenor of the Kurdish Studies Series with the LSE Middle East Centre. She is also an Academic Associate at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge.
Registration for this event will open on January 27 2026.
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