This paper proposes a typology of four possible states of concepts: unquestioned, contested, essentially contested, and destabilized. The typology serves as a frame of reference and as an analytical tool for IR researchers who wish to study concepts and conceptualizing processes as a way of understanding politics. It argues that, within a context, every concept is in one out of four possible states. The typology rests on the relationship between experiences, perceptions, and concepts, aiming to rectify the lacuna of minimal attention to the experiences of many IR works which mainly focus on the inter-subjective sphere and actor-structure tensions. Thus, using the example of sovereignty in Jerusalem during the Israeli-Palestinians negotiations (1993–2001), a new state of concept, the destabilized state, is introduced.

本文提出了四种可能的概念状态类型学：未质疑、有争议、基本有争议和不稳定。对于希望研究概念和概念化过程作为理解政治的一种方式的 IR 研究人员来说，类型学可以作为参考框架和分析工具。它认为，在一个上下文中，每个概念都处于四种可能状态中的一种。类型学依赖于体验、感知和概念之间的关系，旨在纠正许多 IR 作品对体验的最低关注的空白，这些作品主要关注主体间领域和演员结构的张力。因此，以以色列-巴勒斯坦谈判（1993-2001）期间耶路撒冷的主权为例，引入了一种新的概念状态，即不稳定状态。