Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
European Journal of International Relations
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ross, A. A. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Coming in from the Cold: Constructivism and Emotions

Andrew A. G. Ross

University of Oregon, USA

A variety of constructivists have begun to address emotions in IR, viewing emotional events and memories as important dimensions to the social construction of identity. But it is not clear that constructivist tools, designed in most cases for interpreting discursive representations, are equipped to study affective phenomena. This article offers a critical assessment of constructivism’s ability to theorize affects—nonconscious and embodied emotional states—in global politics. Using as an example the ontology developed by Alexander Wendt, the article suggests that common presuppositions in orthodox constructivism in fact obstruct the study of affect and its role in social and political life. To grasp the depth, intensity, and fugitivity of emotional phenomena, constructivism needs to rethink its attachments to reflective agency, ideational processes, and symbolic meaning. Through a brief discussion of the American response to 9/11, the final section develops several propositions on the role of affect in forging political identities.

Key Words: 9/11 • affect • emotion • identity • materiality • micropolitics

European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 12, No. 2, 197-222 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1354066106064507
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 European Journal of International RelationsHome page
K. Fattah and K.M. Fierke
A Clash of Emotions: The Politics of Humiliation and Political Violence in the Middle East
European Journal of International Relations, March 1, 2009; 15(1): 67 - 93.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 European Journal of Social TheoryHome page
E. Hutchison and R. Bleiker
Emotional Reconciliation: Reconstituting Identity and Community after Trauma
European Journal of Social Theory, August 1, 2008; 11(3): 385 - 403.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 European Journal of International RelationsHome page
B. Greenhill
Recognition and Collective Identity Formation in International Politics
European Journal of International Relations, June 1, 2008; 14(2): 343 - 368.
[Abstract] [PDF]