Revolutionary loyalties

: organisational attachments and armed struggles in Kurdistan

Abstract

This thesis examines loyalty within revolutionary armed struggle, a concept that remains understudied in scholarship on political violence. Drawing on the experiences of individuals formerly involved in Kurdish revolutionary organisations founded in Turkey (PKK), Iran (Komala), Iraq (KDP, PUK), and Syria (PYD), it puts forward a new framework for understanding how organisational loyalties can be constructed, developed and reinforced. The thesis analyses various organisational processes and practices that contribute to loyalty development, the influence of extra-group loyalties to family and tribe, and how revolutionary organisations influence loyalty interpretations and performance.

Employing an Informed Grounded Theory research design, the research analyses original data from interviews (n=13) and autobiographies (n=9) of people with direct experience of involvement in Kurdish revolutionary organisations or otherwise have deep knowledge of them (e.g., due to family member involvement). This interdisciplinary research provides both empirical and theoretical contributions to scholarship on political violence and civil war.

This thesis argues that organisational loyalty should be conceptualised as a coalescent loyalty: multiple loyalties converging in support of the organisation, constructed primarily through positive social interactions and experiences occurring through involvement in the revolutionary organisation. It also demonstrates that pre-engagement loyalties, especially familial attachments, can play an important facilitating role in that process. The findings provide the empirical foundation for an original theoretical framework that includes a refined conceptualisation of organisational loyalty and articulates three processes of loyalty development in organisations engaged in armed struggle.

Date of Award	30 Jun 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Sarah Marsden (Supervisor) & Javier Argomaniz (Supervisor)