Representational Practices of Rebel Governance

Abstract

Representational Practices of Rebel Governance Much of the literature on rebel governance has been focusing on the material factors that influence rebel activities. However, rebels frequently engage in practices that have no clear material benefit. Instead, these are meant to increase their legitimacy with certain groups, by representing a normative conception of authoritative rule. This thesis offers a process-based theoretical framework for understanding these "representational practices" by considering them as acts of communication from rebel senders to their audiences. To this extent, rebels frame themselves as continuous, time-transcendent rulers (content) within authoritative normative frameworks (contexts) and use various "artifacts" and bodily movement as "channels" to transmit these claims. This model is then applied to an interpretive, single-case study of the "Islamic State" rebels in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017. It is found that the model can explain many of the IS's activities. The group framed its ideas of time-transcendent rule in millenarian and apocalyptic contexts, had to adapt its messages to different audiences (such as local civilians and foreign fighters), and communicated its claims not only through internet posts, but also through a careful control of sites within...