Anarchy in the Game of Thrones

Abstract

Recent scholarship has come to rethink how the concept of anarchy captures the fragmented plurality of contemporary world politics. This article continues that inquiry through an interpretative reading of the popular TV-series Game of Thrones. The appeal of this show partly derives from its animation of medieval tropes to interpellate with contemporary global politics; it echoes power struggles constitutive of today's international relations. However, while the fantasy show portrays conflictual relations between different claimants of the Iron Throne in Westeros, it also composes subaltern voices amidst these violent claims to power. This article concludes that such an interpretation diversifies the meanings of anarchy, as both violence and freedom, in the 'game of thrones' of contemporary politics.

Pedagogical Utility of Science Fiction & The Neither Impossible nor Possible Universe of The Expanse

“…One undisputed realm of the 'popular' in popular culture within IR has been fantasy and science fiction. As if to remind society that academics are, despite our quirks, very much human and not maladaptive, the list of modern canons of IR research referents include many of what could be deemed as larger cultural touchstones: Star Trek (Weldes 1999;Geraghty 2008;Gonzalez 2017), Battlestar Galactica (Goulart and Joe 2008;Buzan 2010;Kiersey and Neumann 2013), Harry Potter (Neumann and Nexon 2006;Barratt 2012), and of course, Game of Thrones (Clapton and Shepherd 2016;Young and Ko 2019;Larsson and Lundström 2020). There are excellent overviews about 'poli sci-fi' or when political science meets science fiction (Hamilton 2009;Dixit 2012), so I want to use this section to clarify what science fiction does for IR by referring to literary studies rather than IR, and ultimately embed this in the language of pedagogy to reinforce popular culture's pedagogical utility for IR.…”

2000’ler Türk Sineması’nda Güvenliği Okumak

“…Game of Thrones and the Theories of International Relations. Lexington Books; Larsson, S. ve Lundström, M. (2020). Anarchy in the Game of Thrones.…”

Reducing the contingency of the world: magic, oracles, and machine-learning technology

“…Although much of the well-studied cases of magic come from the global south there are countless examples of magic still prominent in the global north-including astrology, quasi science, and superstitions. There are also signs of magic increasing in the contemporary world(Larsson and Lundström 2020).…”