Summary
Author of The Return of the State of War: A Theoretical Analysis of Operation Iraqi Freedom (ECPR Press, 2008), cited by David Lloyd for the Westphalian frame of his argument: sovereignty as the central institution of the international system, and the distinction it creates between European sovereign persons and non-European territories perceived as land free to be occupied (Settler Colonialism and the State of Exception: The Example of Palestine/Israel, PDF p.2 / printed p.60).
Details
- The phrase ‘sovereignty has been established as the central institution of the international system’ is quoted from Battistella, p.5; the note adds that Battistella himself notes Israel/Palestine among the exceptions to this norm (PDF p.2, 20, note 1).
- Quoted at length (p.85 as cited): “after the emergence of the Westphalian system in Europe, the non-European territories continued to be perceived as ‘land free to be occupied’, while in the European international society of the time war had become a ‘resort to arms among personae morales’, i.e. between entities recognizing each other’s right to exist independently as sovereign units” (PDF p.2 / printed p.60).
- Lloyd builds on the corollary: the distinction subjects the nation without sovereignty to conquest and occupation without recourse, and this dyadic structure constitutes the oscillating relation between norm and exception (PDF p.2).
Related pages
Settler Colonialism and the State of Exception: The Example of Palestine/Israel, State of Exception, Settler Colonialism