The Necropolitics of a Secular International Order
Western Modernity, Arab-Muselmann, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22111178 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Khaled Al-Kassimi (0000-0003-1209-9493, American University in the Emirates, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cogent Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2331-1886 • E-ISSN: 2331-1886 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23311886.2025.2524006 |
| OpenAlex | W4414782502 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 35 |
The secular sovereign architects of the post-World War II International Order are necropolitical. By envisioning modernity as a telos directed by the authority of secular sovereigns, the global order enacts a necro-logic—the imperative to divide ‘pre-modern/uncivil’ from ‘modern/civil’ societies, legitimizing the death of the former to preserve the life of the latter. Within this realist episteme, the post-World War II order necessitates excluding Arabs (Ishmaelites) from the juridical order for ontological security by deeming their slaughter and humiliation as not constituting homicide, but necessary for the ‘order of things’. Drawing on necropolitics as a sociopolitical theory, the manuscript examines Israel’s exercise of sovereignty—particularly after 7 October 2023—as manifesting episodes of necropower dehumanizing Palestinians as Arabs. It further contends that the International Court of Justice indicted the secular international order in the South Africa v. Israel case, even as some sovereigns sought to preserve the inclusive-exclusive logic of Western modernity by absolving Israel. The manuscript concludes by placing the Gaza war within a broader geopolitical restructuring. It highlights the coordinated efforts of the Arab League, UNGA, EU, and BRICS advocating for an epistemic shift. Such a shift will demand that academic institutions recognize the limitations of post-modern ideologies that reject objective morality, particularly in their ability to offer a truly inclusive moral resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict., upholding the principle of ‘never again’
Biopower · Dehumanization · Economic Justice · Geopolitics · Humiliation · Ideology · Modernity · Sovereignty · Telos · Territorial integrity · Islamic Studies and History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Religion and Society Interactions
Idols in the East
The Gentle Civilizer of Nations
The Jew, the Arab
International Relations and the Problem of Difference
Sovereign Contradictions
The State of Exception
The Gap in Context
The Lack of Philosophical Knowledge in Che Guevara’s Pedagogy
De-Historicizing (Mainstream) Ottoman Historiography on Tanzimat and Tahdith
Israeli necropolitics and the pursuit of health justice in Palestine
A critique of Frantz Fanon’s abandonment neurosis and secular-humanist ideology
Rethinking Refugees
The Message of Torture
The Family of Nations as an Element of the Ideology of Colonialism
The Question of Biopower
Germany and Israel
Agamben's geographies of modernity
Necrocapitalism
Interpretations of the Industrial Revolution in England
The Right to Maim
A Postmodern (Singularity) Future with a Post-Human Godless Algorithm
The Story of Islamophobia
Homo Sacer
Necropolitics
Wars of the Globalization Era
Modernity and Ambivalence
Colonial management of death
Visual Necropolitics and Visual Violence
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |