Friendship and Positive Peace: Conceptualising Friendship in Politics and International Relations

Abstract

In recent years, the study of friendship has gained traction in political science. The aim of this article is threefold: (1) to offer an overview of the status of friendship studies and how it relates to the emotional turn in international relations, (2) to present a wide variety of different approaches to studying friendship, and (3) to highlight the contribution that a friendship perspective can make to other fields, such as Peace and Conflict Studies. From Aristotle and Plato onwards, we trace the development of the concept of friendship, and present several theoretical conceptualisations and methodological approaches that can be readily applied when making sense of friendship, both on a personal level between elite actors, and on the international level between states. We end by drawing attention to the merit of the study of friendship specifically for the field of Peace and Conflict Studies, where it helps to address the lacuna of research on positive peace.

Exploring friendship in hydropolitics: The case of the friendship dam on the Asi/Orontes river

“…The notion of friendship can be normatively understood as a relationship characterized by trust, openness, honesty, acceptance, reciprocity, solidarity, and loyalty (Aristotle, 1999 and Fehr, 1996 in Berenskoetter, 2014). Political friendship has long been recognized and studied in the field of political philosophy (van Hoef & Oelsner, 2018), and the normative characteristics of friendship (Berenskoetter, 2014), as well as the terminology of friendship (Devere, 2014), is present in international politics. Although the recognition and analysis of friendship in studies of International Relations are not new (e.g., amity–enmity continuum of Wolfers, 1962), friendship only began to be theorized and conceptualized by scholars within the last decade (e.g., King & Smith, 2018; Oelsner & Koschut, 2014; Oelsner & Vion, 2011).…”

“…International Relations (IR) research approaches studying the concept of friendship descriptively, normatively, analytically, and conceptually (Oelsner & Koschut, 2014; van Hoef & Oelsner, 2018). Therefore, the term “friendship” has various connotations in IR scholarship.…”

“…Therefore, the term “friendship” has various connotations in IR scholarship. As van Hoef and Oelsner (2018) suggested, rather than focusing on the definition, it can also be useful to approach the concept of friendship from a functional perspective. Instead of tackling what friendship is , we can learn a lot by also addressing what friendship does and what friendship is for , since it enables us to understand and explain the process and practice of friendship in IR.…”

Sentimental Utility Theory: Interpreting the Utilization of Collective Emotions by the Political Elite Through the Erdoğan‐Obama Friendship

“…Following van Hoef (2018b) and building on the work of Koschut and Oelsner (2014), political friendship between state leaders consists of five key components: (1) affect, (2) a grand project, (3) altruistic reciprocity, (4) moral obligations, and (5) equality (van Hoef & Oelsner, 2018, p. 121). Political friendships are characterized by a high degree of affect, (Sasley, 2010, p. 3), visible during summits and face‐to‐face meetings (Holmes, 2018).…”

The emotions behind character friendship: From other‐oriented emotions to the ‘bonding feeling’

“…In political science there is an increasing interest in treating friendship as a framework for rethinking democracy and civic relations (Allen, 2006; Schwarzenbach, 2009), and as a political bond in itself (Derrida, 1998; Digeser, 2016; Smith, 2019). International relations takes an interest in friendship as a peace builder (van Hoef & Oelsner, 2018). And sociology recognizes in friendship an element that is relevant for social cohesion in contemporary western societies (Spencer & Pahl, 2009).…”