International Hierarchies and the Politics of Abjection: Exclusion of Hamas from International Normative Order

This paper examines Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection as a framework to understand the exclusion of Hamas from the international normative order. Kristeva's concept of abjection refers to the process through which an entity is constituted as threatening to the integrity and purity of the self and is consequently expelled from the boundaries of legitimate subjectivity. Drawing on this framework, the paper analyses how Hamas has been discursively constructed as an existential threat, thereby rendering it abject within the international normative order. This process of exclusion not only marginalises Hamas but also constrains broader forms of Palestinian agency. The analysis highlights two key consequences of abjection: the reproduction of exclusionary hierarchies within the international normative order and the denial of subjectivity to marginalised actors. By extending the concept of abjection to the study of international hierarchies and self/other dichotomy, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on exclusion, legitimacy, and the politics of recognition in International Relations.