The Political Theology of an Unraveling Liberal International Order: The Crime of Apartheid and Israel
Öz
This article argues that the persistent overlooking of, and at times overt support for, Israel’s apartheid regime against the Palestinian people by the core states of the liberal international order constitutes a Schmittian political-theological moment whereby Israel, and through it ‘the West,’ exercise sovereignty in the international order by suspending the anti-apartheid legal norm and thereby placing themselves above and beyond it. A Schmittian framework reveals that the liberal international order does not merely fail to apply the anti-apartheid legal norm with regard to Israel due to its incapacity or inefficiency. Rather, the international order functions through a sovereign decision to suspend the law when the specific case fits the interests of the underwriters of the order. Such exercises of sovereign power place Israel outside and above the legal-normative order of postwar global governance. The paper concludes that the permanent state of exception within the liberal international order that places Israel outside international law regarding the crime of apartheid not only marks the sovereign power exercised by Israel and its main supporters but also contributes to the undermining of the very international order built on the recognition of these legal norms.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Political Theology, Sovereignty, Exception, Apartheid, İsrail, Liberal International Order
Kaynakça
- A Regime of Jewish Supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is Apartheid. (2021). B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. http://www.btselem.org/apartheid
- Acharya, A. (2017). After Liberal Hegemony: The Advent of a Multiplex World Order. Ethics & International Affairs, 31(3), 271–285.
- Albanese, F. (2022). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 (A/77/356). United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/a77356-report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-palestinian
- Becker, R. N., Hillman, A. L., Potrafke, N., & Schwemmer, A. H. (2015). The preoccupation of the United Nations with Israel: Evidence and theory. The Review of International Organizations, 10(4), 413–437.
- Callamard, A. (2024, February 15). Gaza and the End of the Rules-Based Order. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/gaza-and-end-rules-based-order
- Cape Town Session | Russell Tribunal on Palestine. (2011, November 5). https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/south-africa.html
- Dugard, J. (Ed.). (2007). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967 (A/HRC/4/17). UN. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/593075
- Dugard, J., & Reynolds, J. (2013). Apartheid, International Law, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. European Journal of International Law, 24(3), 867–913.
- Falk, R. A. (2025, October 26). Final Statement of the Istanbul Session—Prof. Richard Falk, President of Gaza Tribunal [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwibIZcLcQE
- Falk, R. A., & Tilley, V. (2017). Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid (No. 1; Palestine and the Israeli Occupation). United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).
