Trust Games: Emotionality in International Diplomacy

This paper examines the role of emotions in determining trust outcomes in international diplomacy. We theorise that trust experiences follow a particular pattern that involves ambivalent emotions that combine anxiety and safety, and facilitate favourable diplomatic outcomes in conflict negotiations. Our empirical analysis involves data from in-depth interviews with Indian and Pakistani diplomats and public intellectuals and hilights patterns in trust experiences that involve combinations of anxiety, uncertainty and safety, each with different targets. This study has significant implications for the conceptualization of trust and its use as an effective tool for the management of adversarial relationships in global politics. Authors: Capelos Tereza, Nicholas Wheeler, Chiara Cervasio, Stavroula Chrona, Maria Poulopoulou