Mediation, identity construction and legitimacy: Reimagining the Syrian nation through third‐party peacemaking

This article interrogates whether, and if so how, international mediation might shape the identities of the conflict parties. I examine stages I and II of the Geneva Peace Process, the early United Nations (UN)-led efforts in relation to the Syrian civil war, by thematically analysing 31 semi-structured interviews, 35 press conferences and 68 official documents. I argue that mediators and conflict parties can reimagine the identities of the conflict parties within, and in response to, mediation. Mediation may form a backdrop to processes of identity construction, while the very occurrence of mediation can provoke processes of identity construction. Within the case analysed, the Syrian opposition and members of the international community reconstructed a vision of the Syrian people, depicting the nation as being united by suffering. This, I contend, was driven by a perceived need to legitimise the peace process while the Syrian opposition was simultaneously painted in parallel hues in an attempt to legitimise their aspirations to govern