Palestinian Authority in the West Bank

Michelle Pace is Professor (MSO) at Roskilde University’s Department of Social Sciences and Business. She is also Honorary Professor in Politics and International Studies at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Her research areas of interest include migration studies, memory studies, and emotions in IR. Somdeep Sen is a postdoctoral researcher at Roskilde University. His research centers on spatial politics, settler colonialism, postcolonialism, and migration in the Middle East and Europe. He has published on the Israeli–Palestinian ‘conflict’ and co-edited a volume on Syrian refugee children’s journeys in exile (Routledge, 2018)

• Prelude 1. The Theatrics of the ‘State’: An Introduction 2. Palestine and the ‘Global’ imperative of State-Building 3. The Palestinian Authority and its ‘anxious’ functionaries 4. Operating in the shadow of the ‘state’: The case of civil society organizations 5. The ‘state’ and its ‘unwilling’ subjects 6. Conclusion Bibilography

"What is the meaning of the state in Occupied Palestine? Pace and Sen trace this crucial question in their fascinating and innovative book, detailing how the Palestinian Authority and other actors engage in performances of statehood. A must-read for anyone wanting to untangle the seeming paradox of the stateless state of Palestine." Sophie Richter-Devroe, Hamad Bin Khalifa University "The book brilliantly examines the crucial aporia into which the Palestinian struggle for national liberation has ended up: the inhibition of the establishment of a Palestinian state as a result of the very theatrical statehood machinery performed by the Palestinian Authority with the support of the international community. Reconstructing the post-Oslo attempts to create the new unachievable sovereign entity and carefully navigating the conflictual political emotions of the key characters in this tragedy, Pace and Sen offer a thoughtful and provocative gaze on one of the most complex cases of self-determination in contemporary history." Nicola Perugini, The University of Edinburgh"This book is a significant contribution to the study of Palestinian politics and the struggle for freedom and human rights. It is a meticulous dismantling of the 'state building' myth that has long been promoted by the Palestinian Authority and its backers among the 'donor' countries.Michelle Pace and Somdeep Sen offer a rare evaluation of a subject that has long been unjustifiably ignored or hastily grouped under ostensibly more urgent contexts concerning Israeli ‘security’ and American foreign policy. The authors have provided a concise analysis of the Palestinian reality under the PA, one which is grounded in exhaustive research, backed by ethnographic evidence. It convincingly explains why various political actors, Palestinians and others, collude to promote the farce that the PA is in the process