The ties that bind

On Affective Ties, Power, Nationalism, and Competition Over the Global Distribution of Feeling

Bibliographic Data

ID6431087
AuthorsTodd H Hall (0000-0003-0499-4367), Patrick James (0009-0003-5901-7907)
Year2025
Volume17
Issue2
Pages175-207
Publication date2025-03-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1752-9719 • E-ISSN: 1752-9727
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1752971925000028
OpenAlexW4408801777
LanguageEN
References cited127

Affective ties encompass a broad family of emotional phenomena, including love, affection, attachment, and devotion. Affective ties may appear deeply personal, and they most certainly are. But they are also important resources for the exercise of political power in international politics – not only as vulnerabilities that can be exploited for coercion but also, and more significantly, as means to mobilise action and sacrifice. Viewed from the vantage point of political agents, affective ties are thus power resources whose distribution in the international system shapes their strategies and choices. Viewed from the perspective of the system, the international realm is not only characterised by struggles over material capabilities or ideas but also competition over affective ties. Correspondingly, nationalism is not simply an identity. It is a collection of techniques and practices for generating and capturing affective ties that has emerged as a highly effective contender in this contest, with crucial implications for how the international system is organised. That being said, other forms of eliciting affective ties also persist

Biology · Competition (biology · Distribution (mathematics · Feeling · Nationalism · Physics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology

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