Education Provision in Rebel Governance: Comparative Insights from Yemen and Syria

Rebels often go beyond security and taxation to offer services such as education, healthcare and infrastructure. In this theory-building article, we provide a juxtapositional comparison of rebel-provided education by Ansar Allah in Yemen and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in Syria. We analyse education as a distinct service due to its capacity to socialise civilians into rebel ideology and its potential to foster civilian resistance. Our cases reveal similarities in the multilayered nature of education provision, sub-national variation in civilian responses and gendered impacts. These generalisable insights can inform future research on governance in conflict zones.