"Filthy Lapdogs", "Jerks", and "Hitler": Making Sense of Insults in International Relations

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 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.