「主権の空白地」の統治をめぐるせめぎ合い

――イラクとシリアにおける「イスラーム国」とクルド人組織の活動を事例として――

抄録

This article examines how non-state actors struggle to rule the areas void of sovereignty. The areas void of sovereignty is not a new issue in international politics. There have been many such areas within weak states. Traditionally, the existence of such areas has been a domestic, not an international, matter. However, the recent trend of globalization and its effects have changed the situation. For example, the Islamic State (IS), which emerged along the Iraqi-Syria border, recruited international fighters from all over the world using the internet and social media. As a result, the existence of ungoverned territories became known all over the world. Hence, the struggle to establish control over these areas void of sovereignty is deeply related to the stability of international order.

In Iraq and Syria, IS, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) all sought to control the ungoverned territory. On the one hand, IS attempted to establish a sovereign state based on jihadist ideology. On the other hand, the global community supported the KRG and the PYD to combat IS. The legitimacy of the KRG and PYD in international politics increased during the war on IS.

In 1991, at the end of the Gulf War, the KRG established a de facto autonomy in northern Iraq; its formal autonomy was recognized by the Iraqi central government in 2004. For the KRG leadership, the war against IS was looked upon as a rare opportunity to achieve independence. Hence the KRG quickly held the independence referendum on September 25, 2017. However, the neighboring countries (Turkey and Iran), the patron state (the United States), and the parent state (Iraq) all opposed this referendum and the KRG’s independence. After the independence referendum failed, KRG lost the disputed territory in Iraq and its relationships with neighboring countries deteriorated.

The PYD is an organization that operates under the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the umbrella group for managing the mobilization of Kurds across the Middle East. PYD became the leading Kurdish group in Syria because its military unit, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), gained the support of the United States and its allies in the war against IS. However, Turkey views the PYD as part of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an illegal, armed group in Turkey. Hence, Turkey continues to battle the PYD in northern Syria.

As a result, no actor can fully control the areas void of sovereignty in Iraq and Syria. However, exploring the cases of the KRG and PYD shows how maintaining good relations with neighboring states is a condition for the survival of non-state actors.