During its current conflict, Syria may be without government in many of its areas, yet it is not without governance. Where government institutions ceased to exist, with the destruction of infrastructure and the disruption or complete failure of the delivery of basic services (health, shelter, education, sanitation, electricity, etc.), the result was mass dislocation, insecurity, massive sufferings and limitations of livelihoods. However, locals living under conflict, as also suggested from examples ranging from Afghanistan to Somalia and Bosnia, did not remain passive; they created systems of governance to make their situation more predictable and liveable. In such cases, spaces or “pockets of authority” are created wherein diverse actors press competing claims for power and kinds of order. Civil society is a major actor, but so are warlords, tribes, armed groups, international actors and extremists groups. These fight, cooperate, overlap or co-exist until customary