%0 Journal Article %T Stifling stateness: The Assad regime¡¯s campaign against rebel governance %A Brent Eng %A Jos¨¦ Ciro Mart¨ªnez %J Security Dialogue %@ 1460-3640 %D 2018 %R 10.1177/0967010618768622 %X This article assesses the impact of the Assad regime¡¯s aerial bombardment campaign on a frequently neglected component of Syria¡¯s ongoing civil war: rebel governance. While analysis of the military and humanitarian ramifications of such attacks has been extensive, these perspectives fail to consider how the Assad regime¡¯s counter insurgency efforts subvert governance practices by Syria¡¯s diverse rebel groups. Drawing on performative approaches to the ¡®state¡¯, we argue that opposition groups¡¯ daily enactments of ¡®stateness¡¯ via two key welfare services ¨C bread and healthcare provision ¨C constitute a historically inflected and locally grounded critique of the incumbent. When executed successfully, such enactments can stabilize relations between rulers and ruled while offering a vision of an alternative polity. They can also attract the attention of rivals. The Assad regime¡¯s aerial bombing campaign of rebel-held areas is thus neither a haphazard military strategy nor simply the product of long-standing sectarian hatreds, but a deliberate tactic through which it seeks to destroy a key threat to its authority %K Civil war %K counter insurgency %K rebel governance %K state theory %K Syria %K welfare %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0967010618768622