This book explores the complex and creative role of emotion in global politics. From casual observers to trained experts, people care about challenges such as terrorism, violent conflict, and humanitarian crises; these are not just technical problems demanding solutions but also matters possessing emotional urgency and appeal. Political problems acquire emotional significance when they involve human suffering, political controversy, and other qualities of pressing moral concern. But, as this book shows, emotional intensity is also shaped by lived experience of events, communicative practices, ... More

This book explores the complex and creative role of emotion in global politics. From casual observers to trained experts, people care about challenges such as terrorism, violent conflict, and humanitarian crises; these are not just technical problems demanding solutions but also matters possessing emotional urgency and appeal. Political problems acquire emotional significance when they involve human suffering, political controversy, and other qualities of pressing moral concern. But, as this book shows, emotional intensity is also shaped by lived experience of events, communicative practices, and social interactions. The book studies emotional dimensions of global politics by investigating they way everyday social interactions intensify, harmonize, and blend the emotional responses of participants. It begins with on-the-ground events such as protests, speeches, and commemoration rituals and then traces the emotions they evoke among co-participants— both elites and ordinary people, near and far. Revisiting well-studied civil conflicts from the 1990s, as well as the War on Terror from the 2000s, the book uncovers emotional effects missed by research trained on identities, institutions, or interests. Drawing widely from current research in neuroscience, microsociology, and cultural theory, the book reconceptualizes the social genesis of emotion and their distinctive impact on global politics.