‘The Decision to Return to Syria Is Not in My Hands’: Syria’s Repatriation Regime as Illiberal Statebuilding

Abstract Many Syrian refugees are being forcibly repatriated under the guise of the war’s end, while other refugees are returning to Syria voluntarily. Drawing on an interview study with displaced Syrians, and an analysis of conflict-era policy and legal changes, I show how the Syrian government’s repatriation regime has been constructed outside of international norms and practices. An absentee must apply to return through a settlement process in which the state determines who is a ‘loyal returnee’ and thus permitted to return. Returnees must construct a genealogy of loyalty that attributes responsibility for their displacement towards several of the Syrian government’s enemies. Wartime Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) laws have created a surrogate legal category for the displaced as absentee subjects who are targeted for punishment through HLP seizures. As Syria’s repatriation regime is delinked from restitution, returnees are forced to navigate HLP laws to regain ownership of assets and property.