Women As a Legitimacy-Building Tool in US Foreign Policy: The Case of Women’s Protection Units (YPJ)

Year 2023, , 147 - 168, 30.05.2023

Turgay Demir

https://doi.org/10.19059/mukaddime.1218285

Abstract

Abstract
Studies regarding women in the US foreign policy mainly concentrate on the place of women with a particular attention to institutions that play a significant role in the foreign policy making process such as Congress, State Department and National Security Council. They analyze the roles, positions and responsibilities of women in the foreign policy-making through gender-based approaches. While roles or influence of women in policy-making process is quite an important topic, there is also a raising question whether women might find a place themselves as a legitimacy-building tool in the US foreign policy or in which circumstances women could have a place in the US foreign policy agenda. This article purposes to investigate why a militarist Kurdish women organization, the YPJ (Yekineyen Parastina Jin, Women’s Protection Units) can find a place for itself in the US foreign policy agenda. Data has been collected through the textual content analysis of mainstream newspapers, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and the pieces of US think-tanks with regard to its counterterrorism strategy against ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham) in addition to the related media outlets and academic literature over the topic. The article argues that US administrations have used the YPJ as a legitimacy tool for their counter-ISIS strategy in Syria by locating it in the broader policy objective, the democracy promotion in the Middle East. The article indicates that US administrations have worked with ground partners like the YPJ and YPG (Yekineyen Parastina Gel, People’s Protection Units) in the context of a military-based and security-prioritized alliance instead of having an external military intervention. Although there have been ideological differences between US administrations and the YPJ, the images of women as heroes/warriors that bravely fight ISIS have helped the US to overcome ideological differences and utilize the YPJ for legitimizing its counter-ISIS strategy and policy objectives in Syria.

Keywords

US Foreign Policy, Women, Syrian Civil War, YPJ, ISIS

Women As a Legitimacy-Building Tool in US Foreign Policy: The Case of Women’s Protection Units (YPJ)

Abstract

Studies regarding women in the US foreign policy mainly concentrate on the place of women with a particular attention to institutions that play a significant role in the foreign policy making process such as Congress, State Department and National Security Council. They analyze the roles, positions and responsibilities of women in the foreign policy-making through gender-based approaches. While roles or influence of women in policy-making process is quite an important topic, there is also a raising question whether women might find a place themselves as a legitimacy-building tool in the US foreign policy or in which circumstances women could have a place in the US foreign policy agenda. This article purposes to investigate why a militarist Kurdish women organization, the YPJ (Yekineyen Parastina Jin, Women’s Protection Units) can find a place for itself in the US foreign policy agenda. Data has been collected through the textual content analysis of mainstream newspapers, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and the pieces of US think-tanks with regard to its counterterrorism strategy against ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham) in addition to the related media outlets and academic literature over the topic. The article argues that US administrations have used the YPJ as a legitimacy tool for their counter-ISIS strategy in Syria by locating it in the broader policy objective, the democracy promotion in the Middle East. The article indicates that US administrations have worked with ground partners like the YPJ and YPG (Yekineyen Parastina Gel, People’s Protection Units) in the context of a military-based and security-prioritized alliance instead of having an external military intervention. Although there have been ideological differences between US administrations and the YPJ, the images of women as heroes/warriors that bravely fight ISIS have helped the US to overcome ideological differences and utilize the YPJ for legitimizing its counter-ISIS strategy and policy objectives in Syria.

Keywords

U.S. Foreign Policy, Women, Syrian Civil War, YPJ, ISIS

References

• Albayrak, A., Corker, M. (2014). 'My Bravery Shames Them': Kurdish Women Battle Islamic State on Front Lines, The Wall Street Journal, 17 October 2014, Accessed: 28 October 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/kurdish-women-fight-on-front-line-against-islamic-state-1413580188
• Al-Tamimi, A. J. (2013). The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-sham, Middle East Review of International Affairs, 17 (3), 19-44.
• Anadolu Agency (2021). Supreme Court rules Shamima Begum cannot return to UK", 26 February 2021, Accessed: 26 October 2022, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/supreme-court-rules-shamima-begum-cannot-return-to-uk/2157986
• Anadolu Agency (2015). ANALYSIS: US, Syrian Kurds cooperate for 'northern Syria' project”, 16 June 2015, Accessed: 21 April 2017, http://aa.com.tr/en/world/analysis-us-syrian-kurds-cooperate-for-northern-syria-project/35835
• Angevine, S. (2017). Representing All Women: An Analysis of Congress, Foreign Policy, and the Boundaries of Women’s Surrogate Representation, Political Research Quarterly, 70(1), 98-110.
• Bigio, J., Vogelstein, R. (2020). Understanding Gender Equality in Foreign Policy. Council on Foreign Relations, June, Accessed: 24 November 2022, https://cdn.cfr.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Understanding%20Gender%20Equality%20in%20Foreign%20Policy.pdf Bradley, M., Parkinson, J. (2015). America's New Marxist Allies --- A young woman fighter shows why a Kurdish guerrilla group is a U.S. partner against Islamic State”, The Wall Street Journal, 25 July 2015, Accessed: 17 June 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-marxist-allies-against-isis-1437747949
• Brenner, A. (2009). Speaking of ‘Respect for Women’: Gender and Politics in U.S. Foreign Policy Discourse, 2001-2004, Journal of International Women’s Studies, 10(3), 18-32.
• Burton, J. (2017). Why America Should Care About the YPJ in Syria, Small Wars Journal, 27 January 2017, Accessed: 8 November 2022, https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/why-america-should-care-about-the-ypj-in-syria CNN International Business, (2014).The Women of the Year, 22 December 2014, Accessed: 4 November 2022, https://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/19/business/gallery/leading-women-2014/index.html
• Crombie, K., and Moffitt, E. (2022). Reassessing women’s role in peace and security in the Middle East, The Middle East Institute, 31 January 2022, Accessed: 15 November 2022, https://www.mei.edu/publications/reassessing-womens-role-peace-and-security-middle-east
• Demir, T. (2023). Syrian Kurds, The Democratic Union Party (PYD), and The Strategic Framing of The Civil War: Selling The New Model of Governance, Lexington Books: Lanham Maryland.
• Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (2017). Lead Inspector General for Operation Inherent Resolve, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, April 1, 2017 - June 30, 2017, Accessed: 25 November 2022, https://media.defense.gov/2018/Mar/09/2001888167/-1/-1/1/LIG_OCO_OIR3_JUN2017.PDF
• Egger, S. (2019). YPJ: Female Freedom Fighters on the Front Lines, Polemics, The Magazine of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, 15 July 2019, Accessed: 26 October 2022, https://www.polemics-magazine.com/int/ypj-female-freedom-fighters
• Eichenberg, R.C. (2003). Gender Differences in Public Attitudes toward the Use of Force by the United States, 1990-2003, International Security, 28(1), 110-141.
• Enzinna, W. (2015). The Rojava Experiment, The New York Times, 29 November 2015, Accessed: 17 June 2022, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/magazine/a-dream-of-utopia-in-hell.html
• Fırat News Agency (2014). Asya Abdullah: UN must take initiative for corridor, 22 October 2014, Accessed: 7 May 2017, https://anfenglish.com/news/asya-abdullah-un-must-take-initiative-for-corridor-975
• Glavin, T. (2014). With the Kurds Fighting Islamic State in Syria, The Wall Street Journal, 23 September 2014, Accessed: 17 June 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/terry-glavin-with-the-kurds-fighting-islamic-state-in-syria-1411426290
• Goss, K. A. (2009). Never Surrender? How Women's Groups Abandoned Their Policy Niche in US Foreign Policy Debates, 1916–2000, Politics & Gender, 5(4), 453-489.
• Gunter, M. (2015). Iraq, Syria, ISIS and the Kurds: Geostrategic Concerns for the USA and Turkey, Middle East Policy, 22(1), 102-111.
• Gunter, M. (2014). Out of nowhere: The Kurds of Syria in peace and war, London: Hurst Publishers.
• Hoak, L. (2021). Pop Rocks and Persistence: Finding the Women in U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security, The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics, 1(2),1-25. Accessed: 18 November 2022, https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/thecommons/vol1/iss2/1/?utm_source=soundideas.pugetsound.edu%2Fthecommons%2Fvol1%2Fiss2%2F1&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
• Hoff, J. (2007). Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice: The Women Question and US Foreign Policy, P. Roberts and H. Pequin (Eds). Bonds Across Borders: Women, China, and International Relations in the Modern World. Cambridge Scholar Publishing.
• Kinghts, M., Wilgenburg, W. (2021). Accidental Allies: The U.S. – Syrian Democratic Forces Partnership Against the Islamic State. London: I.B. Tauris.
• Kurt, V. (2019). ABD ve Suriye Krizinin Dönüşümü, Ankara: Kadim Yayınları.
• Kurt, V. (2019). Trump and Syria Crisis, SETA Analysis, (April 2019), Vol 275.
• Kusilek, C. (2019). The Larger Battle for Aleppo: The Removal of US Troops from Syria and the Struggle for Provincial Aleppo, Shattuck Center, CEU School of Public Policy, (June 2019), Accessed: 12 December 2022, https://www.thealeppoproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/KusilekTheLargerBattleforAleppo2019.pdf
• McGurk, B. (2019). Hard Truth: America Can’t Do More With Less, and It Shouldn’t Try, Foreign Affairs, 98(3), 69-84.
• Landler, M., Barnard, A., Schmitt, E. (2014). Turkish Inaction on ISIS Advance Dismays the U.S, The New York Times, 8 October 2014, Accessed: 21 June 2022, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/world/middleeast/isis-syria-coalition-strikes.html
• Paasche, T., Gunter, M. (2016). Revisiting Western Strategies against the Islamic States in Iraq and Syria, The Middle East Journal, 70(1), 9-29.
• Philips, C. (2018). The Battle For Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East. Yale University Press: New Haven and London.
• Raydan, N. (2016). World News: Freed Syrian City Girds for Counterattack --- U.S.-backed troops seek to secure Manbij as they ready new offensives against Islamic State, The Wall Street Journal, 14 August 2016, Accessed: 26 October 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-backed-force-steps-up-efforts-to-secure-syrias-manbij-after-ousting-isis-1471185504
• Rhodes, B. (2018). The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House, New York: Penguin Random House LLC. Rubin, M. (2014). The US Gets the Kurds Wrong - Again. The Wall Street Journal. 13 February 2014. Accessed: 28 October 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-us-gets-the-kurds-wrong8212again-1392333561
• Rudaw.net, (2022). Kurdish forces free another Yazidi woman from al-Hol, 13 September 2022, Accessed: 15 November 2022, https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/130920221
• Said, R. (2017). Exclusive: U.S.-backed Raqqa battle should end in two months, says senior SDF commander, Reuters, 28 August 2017, Accessed: 15 November 2022, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-raqqa-idUSKCN1B81SN
• Sert, A. (2014). For Children in Turkish Refugee Camps, School's Out, The New York Times, 28 December 2014, Accessed: 28 October 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/29/world/europe/for-children-in-turkish-refugee-camps-schools-out.html
• Shaban, S. (2020). Teenagers, Terrorism, and Technopanic: How British Newspapers Framed Female ISIS Recruits as Victims of Social Media, International Journal of Communication, 14, 535-555.
• Shoumali, K., Barnard A. (2014). Slaughter Is Feared as ISIS Nears Turkish Border, The New York Times, 6 October 2014, Accessed: 28 October 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/world/middleeast/isis-moves-into-syrian-kurdish-enclave-on-turkish-border.html
• Soz, J. (2022). The Crisis of Female Jihadists in Al-Hawl Displacement Camp, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 14 July 2022, Accessed: 26 October 2022, https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/87510
• The Guardian (2017). Hundreds of us will die in Raqqa’: the women fighting Isis, 30 April 2017, Accessed: 21 November 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/30/hundreds-of-us-will-die-in-raqqa-the-women-fighting-isis
• The House of Representatives (2015). Religious Persecution, Congressional Record, 23 July 2015, H5455, H5456, Accessed: 26 October 2022, https://www.congress.gov/114/crec/2015/07/23/CREC-2015-07-23-pt1-PgH5454-5.pdf
• The White House Office of the Press Secretary. (2014). The Statement by the President on ISIL”, 10 September 2014, Accessed: 17 October 2022,