In person icon Status Claims, Recognition, and Emotions in IR: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges

The proposed workshop will investigate the inter-linkage between status claims, (mis)recognition, and emotions in IR. Systematic research on these aspects seems overdue, since unrecognized status claims are likely to proliferate over the next decades. Rising powers, such as China, Brazil, and India, will not just raise their voice more often to articulate their own outlooks on the basis of their special understanding. They will also demand more influence, more attention for their points of view, and more status. As a result, the current status hierarchy is bound to become more fluent and ambiguous, thereby giving rise to conflicting status claims, misunderstandings, and hurtful feelings. The principal aim of the sessions is to integrate ongoing research on these aspects more closely by (1) studying the conceptual inter-faces between studies of these topics and by (2) examining empirical approaches for discerning and “measuring” these factors and their impact on decisions. We put particular emphasis on methodological questions because we think that theoretical developments in this new research area have outpaced progress in research design. Thus, the co-directors are especially interested in attracting a group of participants which apply a broad range of methods (including discourse analysis, content analysis, counter-factual analysis and process tracing) to our subject matter. We welcome above all rigorous studies of specific empirical cases but also invite more abstract reflections on the merits of different methodological approaches for investigating the causal links between recognition, status, and emotions.