Interpellation and the Politics of Belonging: A Psychoanalytical Framework

Mandelbaum, Moran M

Abstract

Interpellation, the production and hailing of subjectivities, is key to poststructuralist international relations (IR) theory and yet with some notable exceptions interpellation/hailing as an analytical concept remains somewhat undertheorized. This paper presents a Lacanian–Žižekian psychoanalytical theorization of interpellation in IR, while engaging with the ontology and epistemology of belonging. More specifically, this paper develops four major psychoanalytical concepts: void/lack, fantasy, jouissance, and desire, as it argues that void/lack at the subjective and objective levels renders interpellation possible and destabilises it, thus accounting for the im/possibility of belonging. This paper illustrates the psychoanalytical framework of interpellation by analyzing national-populism as manifested in the Brexit discourse in the UK as well as the interpellation in homonationalism.

Citation

Mandelbaum, M. M. (2023). Interpellation and the Politics of Belonging: A Psychoanalytical Framework. International Studies Quarterly, 67(3), https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqad055

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 2, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 25, 2023
• Publication Date: Jun 14, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 15, 2025
• Journal: International Studies Quarterly
• Print ISSN: 1468-2478
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-2478
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 67
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqad055
• Keywords: Political Science and International Relations, Sociology and Political Science