Architecture of hegemony: Israel as a colonial outpost and deferred statehood in the Middle East

Nabwy A.

Third World Quarterly, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/01436597.2026.2727091
  • Dergi Adı: Third World Quarterly
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, Periodicals Index Online, American History and Life, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Geobase, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Administration Abstracts, Public Affairs Index, Political Science Abstract (IPSA), Social Sciences Abstracts, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest), Business Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Humanities Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Political Science Database (ProQuest), Sociology Database (ProQuest), Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO)
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Advanced colonial outpost, deferred statehood, Israel, neo-colonialism, settler colonialism
  • Akdeniz Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This article argues that the Middle East’s incomplete state-building is not merely due to cultural or institutional ‘failure’. Instead, it results from an external architecture of hegemony, organised around Israel as an advanced colonial outpost. By combining neo-colonial theory, Agamben’s state of exception, securitisation theory and settler-colonial studies, it develops the concept of ‘deferred statehood’. This describes a condition in which the region’s states exist but are structurally prevented from consolidating. The paper shows how permanent emergency, security-driven governance and fragmented sovereignty are reproduced through Western backing for Israel’s qualitative military edge and exceptional diplomatic status. Israel acts as a hegemonic metronome, dictating a tempo of crisis that structures regional political time and obstructs democratic consolidation. In this reading, the region is not ‘lagging behind’ modernity. It is held in suspension by a system that requires its unfinishedness.