Acknowledgements Map of North and East Syria Note on Transliteration and Placenames List of Acronyms and Abbreviations List of Figures List of Contributors Introduction Zeynep Kaya, University of Sheffield, UK, and Robert Lowe, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Section I - Governance The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria: State-like Entity or Hybrid Form of Governance Beyond the Nation-State? Katia Zagoritou, University of the Peloponnese, Greece Searching for Theoretical-Methodological Approaches to the Study of Democratic Confederalism in Rojava Erika Aguilar, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico Democratization Through Kurdish Decentralization? A Critical Comparison of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution and the 2023 Rojava Social Contract Dastan Jasim, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Germany Farewell 'Rojava', Welcome North and East Syria: Democratization in the Autonomous Administration's Arab Regions Matt Broomfield, Independent researcher / Rojava Information Center The Role of Education in Conflict: How AANES' Education Policies Fuel Grievances in North and East Syria Benoîte Martin, Ulster University, Ireland Section II - Identity Kurdish Resistance (Berxwedan) Narratives in Contexts of Territorial Loss and Recovery: From Liberated Kobanî to Occupied Afrîn and Serê Kaniyê Thomas McGee, University of Melbourne, Australia Kurdish Syrians: Balancing Kurdish and Syrian Identities Yunus Abakay, University of Exeter, UK Contributing to the Rise of Rojava from Afar: The Role of Education and Family in National Identity Among Migrating Kurds Nubin Ciziri, Uppsala University, Sweden Section III - Gender Kurdish Women, Kongra Star and Gender Liberation in Post-Conflict Northern Syria Mustafa Kemal Topal, Ankara University, Turkey Gender, Militarism, and Mythology in the Kurdish Freedom Movement Stephen Knight, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Jenny Schulz, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Space, Place, Gender and Struggle in the AANES: Decoration as Political Practice Charlotte Grace, Royal College of Art, UK Section IV - Foreign Relations Foreign Policy Choices of the PYD/YPG: Commitment Problems and Hedging William Smith, University of Bath, UK The Syrian Kurdish National Council's Relationship with Turkey: Symptom and Cause of Decline Nour Albrzawi, Independent Researcher, and Robert Lowe, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.