Rogue states as the stigmatized members of international society

At the turn of the century, the rogue state concept has become an integral part of the theory of international relations. However, even contemporary approaches lack th e appropriate academic tool s to reach a comprehensive understan ding of the international community’s role in determining th e normati ve frameworks of the proper behavior of the states as the main actors of in ternational system, leaving the relations between global community and the rogues almost an uncharted territory on the international stage. The article considers the category of rogue states as “excluded” members of the international commun ity through the sociological lens of “stigma” (E. Goffman) and “labelling theory” (H. Becker and E. Lemert). Engaging an empirical case of Iraqi foreign policy during and after the Gulf War 1991, the author demonstrates two thresholds of the labelling state as the rogue: public initiation of the offender and self-fulfilling prophecy. It is possible to define some specific features of the outsider ’s behavior on the international stag e: the high level of cooperation among the r epresentatives of the same category, “unsustainable bravado” as the set of fluid and inconsistent actions of the rogue state in foreign policy, finally, the tendency toward obtaining the “secondary gains”. Contrariwise, global community tends to pay greater attention to rogue states and exercise some discrimination practices on the ground of their outcast position in th e world normative str uctu re with the category of “wise” actors, for example China, being an exception from the common main stream and maintaining close cooperation ties with rogues.