Investigating the Social Contexts of Emotions in World Politics

Abstract

Emotions, many IR researchers claim, play an important role in the construction of social relationships. However, we still do not know very much about this social ‘character’ of emotions in international relations, let alone that we could predict when and how they unfold their social dynamic. How do, for instance, emotions contribute to the transformation of inter-state relationships, e.g. from distrustful to trustful relationships and vice-versa? What role do particular emotions such as empathy, honor or respect/anger, disappointment, grief, shame or hatred play in this regard? How are emotions as social phenomena related to norms, identity, culture and other social group phenomena and dynamics? Why are some inter-state relationships emotionally more burdened than others? While this panel invites scholars to share their theoretical as well as theoretically driven empirical works on the role of emotions in social relationships with us, we are also interested in identifying the more practical implications that stem from a more sophisticated understanding of emotions in social contexts through theory-advancement and empirical knowledge-production.

Title	Details
The Emergence of a European Identity – there is an App for That!	View Paper Details
Narrative, Identity and Emotion: The Debate in the US Congress on the Gaza-War 2014	View Paper Details
Power-status Figurations in the Security Relations between Russia and the West: From Western Domination to Russian Emancipation	View Paper Details
Face-off: A Cultural Explanation of Ambivalence in China's Grand Strategy	View Paper Details