Loyalty in world politics

Bibliographic Data

ID6060656
AuthorsLauge Poulsen (0000-0002-3978-5357, Department of Political Science, University College London, UK, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume26
Issue4
Pages1156-1177
Publication date2020-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of International Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-0661 • E-ISSN: 1460-3713
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1354066120905895
OpenAlexW3007477772
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited49

Loyalty is part of the glue that holds relationships together in times of difficulty. Surprisingly, however, hardly any literature exists on the role of loyalty in International Relations. The concept is routinely invoked – not least the notion of the ‘loyal ally’ – but typically only in passing and often based on questionable assumptions about the nature and effect of loyalty. Building on literature in moral philosophy on the ethics of loyalty, this paper presents loyalty as persistently partial behaviour driven by affective attachments. Such attachments are, in turn, driven mainly by a sense of shared social identity but also the interaction between subjects and objects of loyalty. I show how this understanding of loyalty differs from how most political scientists use the concept and illustrate why it matters for the study of world politics

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Identity (music) · Loyalty · Political science · Politics · Sociology · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology · War, Ethics, and Justification

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