Abstract
The intensification of forced displacement and the persistence of statelessness highlight the limitations of the international human rights protection system, whose effectiveness remains contingent upon membership in a political community. In this context, the article analyzes the condition of refugees and stateless persons in light of Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy, in critical dialogue with Giorgio Agamben, to understand the structural limits of the nation-state paradigm. The research adopts a qualitative, bibliographic, and conceptual methodology, based on the major works of both authors and on the literature on political philosophy, human rights, citizenship, forced migration, and international refugee law. Initially, it reconstructs Arendt’s concepts of the common world, plurality, citizenship, and the right to have rights, showing that the effectiveness of rights depends on integration into a political community. Next, it analyzes Agamben’s critique of modern sovereignty, particularly the categories of the state of exception and bare life, highlighting how certain individuals remain subject to sovereign power without fully benefiting from legal protection. Subsequently, it links these perspectives to the international regime for the protection of refugees and stateless persons, showing that international instruments, while representing progress, remain dependent on state sovereignty. It concludes that the vulnerability of these populations stems not only from normative shortcomings but also reveals a structural limitation of the political model based on the nation-state. The study’s main contribution is to show that Arendt’s concept of the “common world,” reinterpreted in light of Agamben’s analysis of sovereignty, can serve as the foundation for international human rights protection that is less dependent on nationality, without denying the role of the state.