Framing Legal Systems in New and Emerging Statelets: Autonomous Projects of the Zapatistas of Chiapas and the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria

Autonomous movements within states are disruptions in the normal order and control that a state exerts over its territories. While there are some groups that aim to achieve autonomy and recognition while staying within the structure of the existing state, other groups seek to succeed and establish their own autonomous area completely succeeding and divorcing from the state. For a variety of reasons- from mistrust of a corrupt central government to violent repression of ethnic minorities- movements arise offering an alternative to the existing state. As these movements break, sometimes violently, from the state, they also break from the legal institutions of the state. Part of their task in establishing their autonomy is creating new institutions and methods to implement justice and settle disputes. Traditional methodologies of comparative law such as the legal style framework of Zweigert and Kotz and the legal traditions framework of H. Patrick Glenn do not sufficiently explain the non-traditional legal systems of such statelets. A more appropriate framework to describe these legal systems is the nomos framework of Robert Cover, which explains that legal systems are determined and given meaning from the narratives, histories, and beliefs of the societies they exist in. This paper examines how two autonomous democratic movements approach creating their justice systems, and how these systems pose particular difficulties for comparative law. The Zapatista movement carved out its territory in 1994, and the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (DAANES) claimed its autonomy in 2012. These movements are thus very new compared to the legal systems of the states they are claiming independence from. Because these statelets are so new, it can be quite difficult, if not all together impossible, to find information about their legal systems from traditional academic sources. Looking at the justice system in the Zapatista-controlled area of Chiapas, Mexico, and the community councils of the DAANES, there is much legal anthropology to be done to find data and frameworks to further study these emerging legal systems.