‘Talkin’ ’bout a revolution’? The strategic narratives of the Syrian Democratic Council

Abstract

What strategic narratives did the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) develop during the Syrian civil war? Existing scholarship on strategic narratives and civil wars often overlooks how non-state armed actors developed their strategic narratives and how rebel groups developed their foreign policy. Through qualitative content analysis and narrative analysis of 559 documents published in English by the SDC between 2019 and 2023, this article finds that the SDC developed two strategic narratives. The first narrative, related to the international system, argues that the international military and political interventions weakened the Syrian peace process, criticizing how the promoters of such peace processes have been extensively involved in military operations in Syria. The second narrative contends that the SDC self-identifies as a different and responsible actor in the Syrian context, aiming to achieve national dialogue and an inclusive peace agreement among armed factions, reinforcing the dichotomy between in-groups and out-groups. To this extent, the article fills the gap in the scholarship on civil wars – particularly rebel diplomacy – and strategic narratives, bridging the two literatures and advancing the current understanding of non-state actors’ foreign policies.