The Shadow of 1776: Imperial Republicanism, Technocracy, and the New Gaza

ABSTRACT This article situates the current governance of Gaza within the contrast between imperial rule and trusteeship and argues that the proposed US-led paradigm is a reimagining of the “Imperial Republic.” The technocratic trusteeship is introduced as a governing trope that promises self-determination yet defers it forever through expert administration. Through critical discourse analysis and legal–historical comparison between policy documents and mandate-era precedents, this study shows that sovereignty is displaced by managerial oversight, capacity building, and security conditionality. The most important discovery is that technocratic trusteeship transforms administrative performance into political freedom, efficiency, and neutrality, thereby annihilating any perception of disempowerment. This model has broader implications for international governance, indeed, unwrought by the legacy of 1776.