"Filthy Lapdogs", "Jerks", and "Hitler": Making Sense of Insults in International Relations
Rousseau, E; Baele, SJ
Date: 7 August 2020
Journal
International Studies Review
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP) / International Studies Association
Publisher DOI
Abstract
This paper offers an original theoretical framework for the study of insults in international relations. Bringing into IR the two main theoretical approaches to aggravating language, slurs and dysphemisms, we conceptualize insults' disruptive impact on international interactions. Specifically, we argue that insults constitute both at ...
This paper offers an original theoretical framework for the study of insults in international relations. Bringing into IR the two main theoretical approaches to aggravating language, slurs and dysphemisms, we conceptualize insults' disruptive impact on international interactions. Specifically, we argue that insults constitute both at once tactical tools used by international actors to achieve their interests by disrupting an interaction and modifying the payoffs associated with it, and linguistic artifacts constructing and sharpening self- and other- identities. The components of our theoretical framework are illustrated with a wide range of empirical vignettes of political actors involved in post-WWII world politics, from Nikita Khrushchev to Donald Trump, from the EU Parliament to the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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