Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria

Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria Rêveberiya Xweser a Bakur û Rojhilatê Sûriyeyê الإدارة الذاتية لشمال وشرق سوريا
Flag
Capital	Ayn Issa
Largest city	Raqqa
Official languages	Arabic Kurdish
Recognised regional languages	Adyghe Syriac Turkish
Dominant mode of production	Capitalism
Government	Libertarian Socialist confederation
• Co-presidents	Îlham Ehmed Mansur Selum
History
• Transitional government declared	2013
• New government declared	6 September 2018
Area
• Total	50,000 km²
Population
• 2018 estimate	2,000,000

The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), formerly the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is an autonomous region in Syria. It is led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other allied parties. Rojava has a defense force known as the SDF, which includes the YPG, a Kurdish militia.

On March 10th, the SDF commander-in-chief, Mazloum Abdi, signed an agreement to merge Rojava with the current Syrian national government by the end of this year, which gives both sides time to exit from the deal. However, an SDF official said this was "just a memorandum of understanding," not anything new or groundbreaking. Also, another SDF source stated that the deal will not change anything without mutual consensus between newly formed joint committees that will mediate between the Rojavan government and the national government of Syria: "Yet, as the final point of the deal lays out, committees will now be formed to work on the practicalities of realizing what has been agreed upon. The deal “will not translate to any real change on the ground unless the joint committees agree on everything,” explained an SDF source."

Additionally, despite this agreement, Îlham Ehmed, one of the co-chairs of the presidency in Rojava, has stated that Rojava will not join with the national government until an agreement is reached on the constitution.

The Rojavan government has had a wide array of critiques against the current national government of Syria, including criticizing the current interim constitution and accusing the current national government of Syria of marginalizing Kurds and other minorities. The policies of the national government of Syria have culminated with the Rojavan government stating that they won’t implement policies/decisions of Syria's current "exclusionary" national government.

Economy

The DAANES maintains a system of primarily private ownership of the means of production, making it effectively a decentralized capitalist economy,

Dara Kurdaxi, a former economist from Afrîn when it was under DAANES control stated that Rojava is not against private property, but seeks to put it to service of all through socialization: "The method in Rojava is not so much against private property, but rather has the goal of putting private property in the service of all the peoples who live in Rojava".

While there's hundreds of small worker co-operatives, these play a minimal role in the economy of the region, with 12% of the economy in Jazira, the largest region of Northern Syria, being based on worker co-operatives, The major source of revenue for the AANES is not only taxes, but entrepeneurs, landlords, businessmen and venture capitalists, with these influencing government decisions and even maintaining high rank positions within it.

However, economists in Rojava, such as Dara Kurdaxi argue that they are working for a form of libertarian socialism where production will be controlled through communes and people’s councils: "Historical experience has shown that we in Rojava must follow a different model.” Production should not be controlled by the state, nor by the private market, but through the communes and people’s councils, which are self-governing institutions, in a position to know the needs of their participants."

Additionally, the government does not deny that Rojava is capitalist. Instead, the government argues that Rojava is working to transcend capitalism and build a communal economy that will abolish private property: "Administration does not currently interfere with private land ownership. "We can not force them". Previous revolutions that expropriated land by force were not successful. We are taking a step by step approach to communal ownership. We do not have the power to to fight all private ownership now, but we will eventually abolish it."

Despite this, private property is still constitutionally protected by article 70 of the DAANES constitution: "Private property is protected and may not be taken away except for the public interest. It must be compensated fairly, and this is regulated by law."

Political Structure

According to the new 2023 Rojavan constitution/social contract, Rojava is run by communes, councils, academies, cooperatives, community economic units, and institutions that complement the community system: "The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria organizes its democratic and free community life based on the formation of: communes, councils, academies, cooperatives, community economic units and institutions that complement the community system, which organize themselves in a confederal manner. The democratic system of society develops and is consolidated based on these institutions."

According to the new constitution, these include various institutions, such as cantons, communes, people’s councils, neighborhood councils, law councils, etc.

Kurdish nationalism

Rojava has been accused of Kurdish nationalism due to cases, such as In 2018 where the PYD forced several Assyrian schools controlled by the Syrian Orthodox Church to close. However, these were shortly reopened.

U.S. support

The SDF receives much of its arms from the United States and the U.S. has established seven military bases in the area. However, since Trump has come to office he has cut foreign aid to Rojava.