Paradiplomacy at Work: The Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Syrian Kurds (2011–2017)

Abstract

The article accounts for the paradiplomatic interactions between the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Iraq and the broader political context that shaped their relations. Paradiplomacy refers to sub-state or semi-independent actors' foreign policy conduct in the international arena. Both parties engaged in international relations independent of their central governments and utilized proto-diplomacy to secure external legitimacy and support, advancing Kurdish interests in line with their quest for independence. The Syrian conflict enabled the rise of a de facto autonomous Kurdish territorial entity in Northern Syria (Rojava), thereby creating a new situation in the Kurdish movement by challenging the KDP's political and cultural leadership on pan-Kurdish issues established in the 2000s. By 2013, the PYD had gained prominence in Rojava, representing a considerably differing ideological and political agenda on the Kurdish question from the KDP. The contest between these actors intensified since the Iraqi Kurdish leadership could not significantly influence the Northern Syrian political sphere. The article illustrates how the KDP and PYD, despite their rivalry, occasionally cooperate against common external threats such as the Islamic State, even as they competed for political and military dominance within the broader Kurdish nationalist movement.