This article presents a case study on the role of emotion and respect in the Palestinian statehood bid in front of the UN 2011. Psychological research has posited a relation between the emotion of anger and instances of humiliation. When Mahmoud Abbas says in front of the UN General Assembly ‘I speak on behalf of an angry people’ (2012) he refers to such anger derived from repeated instances of Palestinian humiliation. Humiliation entails the disregard or non-recognition of an actor’s presence and/or significance, as well as the lowering of his/her social standing, or status. Contrary, respect necessitates the (adequate) recognition of an actor’s self-perceived worth and it’s standing in the social environment (status). Among strategies to cope with humiliation lies thus also the pursuit of respect. This in turn may range from active resistance (often involving violence) to verbal claims to the recognition of one’s standing within the community, as exemplified by the Palestinian statehood bid 2011. Positing this relation between humiliation and the pursuit of respect, this article will utilise a mixed approach of discourse analysis of Abbas’ UN speeches (2005 – 2011) to trace references to emotions, humiliation, and the demand of respect and of a behavioral analysis preceding the statehood bid, as (dis-)respect is mostly conveyed in (the absence of) performative acts. Despite remaining difficulties in measuring humiliation and respect, this case study will thus show how we can nonetheless transfer the concepts of emotions and respect to the international realm and trace their influence.
