Introduction: Interrogating the ‘everyday’ politics of emotions in international relations

Abstract

The focus on the everyday in this Special Issue reveals different kinds of emotional practices, their political effects and their political contestation within both micro- and macro-politics in international relations. The articles in this Special Issue address the everyday negotiation of emotions, shifting between the reproduction of hegemonic structures of feelings and emancipation from them. In other words, the everyday politics of emotions allows an exploration of who gets to express emotions, what emotions are perceived as (il)legitimate or (un)desirable, how emotions are circulated and under what circumstances. Consequently, we identify two thematic strands which emerge as central to an interrogation of ‘everyday’ emotions in international relations and which run through each of the contributions: first, an exploration of the relationship between individual and collective emotions and, second, a focus on the role of embodiment within emotions research and its relationship with the dynamics and structures of power.

Brexit and the Everyday Politics of Emotion: Methodological Lessons from History

“…Rather, they actively construct emotional regimes by embracing, rejecting, adapting, and complying with established norms and values. (See Stanley, 2016 andBeattie et al, 2018).…”

“…By focusing on ‘everyday’ narratives, we are able to show that people do not passively receive and internalise norms and values about emotion. Rather, they actively construct emotional regimes by embracing, rejecting, adapting and complying with established norms and values (See Beattie et al, 2018; Stanley, 2016).…”

‘A Baby Is a Baby’: The Asha Protests and the Sociology of Affective Post-Nationalism

“…This affect, and the solidarity it may generate, is inherently political. Collective emotions and the affect they give rise to are used by political elites to sustain their power, but may also ‘be contested, embodied, incorporated and re-appropriated’ (Beattie et al, 2019: 140); they are understood as a potential ‘emancipatory force to re-imagine or resist hegemonic power’ (Beattie et al, 2019: 144) with the potential for political transformation (Ahall, 2018; see also Koschut, 2019).…”

Studying Emotions in Security and Diplomacy: Where We Are Now and Challenges Ahead

“…The academic debate on emotions in the field of politics and IR in general has been a vibrant one with the latest edition of a special issue on “Emotions and the Everyday: Ambivalence, Power and Resistance” published in the Journal of International Political Theory (Beattie, Eroukhmanoff, & Head, ). It is acknowledged that there has been a significant delay in the entrance of emotions into the IR discipline, especially in comparison to other disciplines and subdisciplines including sociology (West, ), social psychology (Kelley & Johnson, /2010), and political psychology (among others, Bilali, ; Cash, ; Davies, ; Lane, ; Mitzen, ; Renshon & Renshon, ).…”

“…An increasing number of IR studies examine emotions as a way of delving into “micropolitics” or “everyday IR” (Beattie et al, ; see also, Åhäll, ). Others focus on state‐level emotions, the institutionalization of emotions, and/or the study of emotional dynamics of and between decision‐makers (Crawford, ; Pace & Bilgic, ).…”