Encounters with Empathy in IR? Mapping the Dynamics of Empathy in Conflict

Empathy remains under-theorised in International Relations and its capacity to contribute to our understandings of conflict in international politics has frequently been overlooked. The paper draws on multidisciplinary debates to locate empathy within a critical theoretical framework of analysis. This allows us to conceptualise empathy as a dynamic and varied practice adopted by actors for different ethical-political ends. In order to explore how these ‘strategies of empathy’ might operate in IR, it is necessary to explore the role of face-to-face encounters; the processes by which empathy may operate across multiple levels of analysis, and the role of individual identity and collective narratives in shaping practices of empathy. Drawing on two cases focusing on different levels of analysis – the elite level Iranian nuclear negotiations and perspectives from grassroots and civil society organisations in Israel and Palestine–the paper suggests a number of themes that contribute to mapping the dynamics of empathy.