Introduction : a performative account of Hamas in Gaza and the EU in Brussels -- Bodies in spaces : entering, belonging and being in Gaza and in Brussels -- "Don't look at me like that" : un-recognising Hamas's political performance -- Democracy performed : Hamas and the EU performing change through the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections -- "Perform or else" : the EU's "failure" to respond to Hamas's success in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections -- The performativity of threat: the EU and Hamas through the violent policy of conditionality -- Conclusion : post-performance policy proposals.
Summary:
This book addresses how institutional and diplomatic rituals shaped the European Union's sanction of Hamas after the latter's success in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections. Through a lens of performance and performativity it explains how socialisation and the duress of performative rituals shapes agency and prevents the possibility of taking risks or being creative with policy initiatives when confronted with difficult decisions. Interviews with senior Hamas representatives, EU bureaucrats, members of the European External Action Service, and electoral observers from Palestine and Europe, in addition to ethnographic research in Gaza and in Brussels, recreate the details of the failed diplomacy between Hamas and the EU. The book explores the political discourses that shape the contemporary recognition of Hamas, and presents Hamas's response to being treated as a terrorist movement. Interrogating the bureaucratic and professional pressures that shape the political agency of EU diplomats and civil servants, it advances queer and postcolonial understandings of political encounters. The juxtaposition of empirical investigation with performance art and everyday experiences will appeal to students of International Relations, the Middle-East, Area Studies, Foreign Policy and Analysis.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.