Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Graduate
Project Type
individual
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Kathrine Lopez, Graduate Student
Lead Presenter's Name
Kathrine Lopez
Lead Presenter's College
DB College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Mentor Name
Amy Grubb
Abstract
This paper examines how Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sought to stabilize and normalize its authority through governance in Idlib from 2017 to 2024. It applies the legitimacy-seeking tactics framework developed by McWeeney, Cunningham, and Bauer (2025) to assess five observable strategies used outside direct combat, provision of public goods, participation in conflict mediation, lobbying and cooperation with external actors, conventional political mobilization, and public outreach. Using qualitative interpretive analysis of primary and secondary sources, the study evaluates how these tactics appeared in HTS-linked governance institutions and public-facing practices during sustained territorial rule. The findings show selective but substantial tactic use. HTS demonstrated its strongest and most consistent patterns in public outreach and public goods and service provision, while lobbying and external cooperation was employed pragmatically to manage constraints. Conflict mediation and conventional political mobilization remained limited or tightly managed when they risked empowering independent opposition or diluting centralized control. The paper argues that HTS’s selective use of legitimacy-seeking tactics enabled it to consolidate and stabilize control in Idlib from 2017-2024, and that this Idlib governance project later served as the foundation from which HTS was able to advance and consolidate national executive authority after the capture of Damascus in December 2024.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Legitimacy-Seeking Tactics Employed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the Idlib Province
This paper examines how Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sought to stabilize and normalize its authority through governance in Idlib from 2017 to 2024. It applies the legitimacy-seeking tactics framework developed by McWeeney, Cunningham, and Bauer (2025) to assess five observable strategies used outside direct combat, provision of public goods, participation in conflict mediation, lobbying and cooperation with external actors, conventional political mobilization, and public outreach. Using qualitative interpretive analysis of primary and secondary sources, the study evaluates how these tactics appeared in HTS-linked governance institutions and public-facing practices during sustained territorial rule. The findings show selective but substantial tactic use. HTS demonstrated its strongest and most consistent patterns in public outreach and public goods and service provision, while lobbying and external cooperation was employed pragmatically to manage constraints. Conflict mediation and conventional political mobilization remained limited or tightly managed when they risked empowering independent opposition or diluting centralized control. The paper argues that HTS’s selective use of legitimacy-seeking tactics enabled it to consolidate and stabilize control in Idlib from 2017-2024, and that this Idlib governance project later served as the foundation from which HTS was able to advance and consolidate national executive authority after the capture of Damascus in December 2024.