Eine Fallstudie zu nichtstaatlichen Akteuren im Nordsyrienkonflikt

Abstract

This work investigates violence against civilians in civil wars, using a case study of the behavior of the rebel group Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat (PYD) in the northern Syrian civil war. For this purpose two theories are examined in this work: a theory by Weinstein (2006), which explains violence against civilians based on the availability of resources and a theory be Wood (2010), explaining violence against civilians with the relative weakness of rebel groups. The two theories are examined by a qualitative congruence analysis. This work shows that the attacks of the so called “Islamic State” on the one hand and international military help, that the Kurdish rebels received in their fight against the Islamist rebels, on the other hand, led to a rise in violence against civilians.