States of failure? Ungovernance and the project of state-building in Palestine under the Oslo regime*

Abstract

How can we understand the relationship between Palestinians and Israelis in the wake of the Oslo regime and to what extent has it facilitated the realisation of Palestinian statehood? Rather than read the Oslo regime as a prelude towards peace and resolution, instead, it has been productive of failure. In understanding how this came to pass and how this state of failure persists, the article argues that ungovernance is an instructive approach, which highlights how Israeli control is achieved through a series of disruptions: severing people from the land, severing rule from responsibility and severing statehood from self-government. After discussing the shape of the Oslo regime, this article explores how ungovernance is practiced across the Palestinian territories through the misgovernance of micro practices that produce a population in disorientation and despair.