Narratives of transformative gender justice: the interplay of Syrian forced displacement and nationality laws

Abstract

This thesis investigates the intersection of Syrian forced displacement and gender-discriminatory nationality laws (GDNL) and associated socioeconomic injustices. Displacement and statelessness are interrelated injustices that are both unintended consequences and deliberate strategies of war. The nexus exemplified by the Syrian ‘case’ brings into view a critical paradigm in the field of transitional justice (TJ) that has traditionally been overlooked. Building on a growing transformative justice approach to TJ, this study integrates the political philosophy of Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to reconfigure spatial and temporal parameters, notions of participation, and the instruments relevant to TJ processes.

The research relies on accounts from members of Syrian civil society who are engaged in political processes, service provision, and documentation and justice efforts. Their insights facilitate a broader and more nuanced understanding of the fissures in the dynamics that condition their work and that have informed their perceptions of (in)justice. The thesis advances a novel In-Trans-Formative lens that accounts for the existence of multiple international and domestic dimensions; the relevance of colonialism as active and continuously operating; and a form of governance that no longer looks like the authoritarianism that TJ has typically set itself up to deal with.

Accordingly, the thesis argues for an inter-national response that disrupts colonial violence and prolonged gender and socioeconomic injustices through jurisprudence (as a creative process applied to concrete cases and situations rather than abstract rules) and economic justice and redistribution – all facilitated by productive tension and participation as difference. This conception of participation also accounts for participation in its absent form (intended or non-intended) and participation as victimisation; thus, accountability extends to ensure justice efforts themselves neither exacerbate harms nor create new ones.

The In-Trans-Formative lens translates into simultaneous and interlinked processes applied across the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Palestinhale/Israel, Jordan) and neighbouring countries, and that account for complex and chronic forms of inaction, mis-action and co/under-action in relation to forced displacement, dispossession and statelessness. Processes of transition and justice should combine state and non-state actors, citizens and non-citizens, who constitute the existing and potential communities affected by displacement and statelessness. For Syrian women with children at risk of statelessness, practical steps towards lifting injustices involve institutional and legal reforms, social integration and combating stigmatisation, and the implementation of repatriation and reparation programmes.

The findings and arguments put forward in this thesis suggest that the Syrian ‘case’ is an assemblage that is also relevant to other contexts subject to the same dynamics.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 December 2026

Date of Award	Dec 2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Khanyisela Moyo (Supervisor), Rory O'Connell (Supervisor) & Thomas Hansen (Supervisor)