Tragedy and International Relations

Tragedy is an ancient plot line associated with hubris, value conflicts among actors and the propensity of our considered actions to have consequences very different from those we intend. First applied to international relations by Thucydides, the tragic vision of politics lies at the core of classical realism.

In this volume, noted International Relations scholars and political theorists draw on a variety of sources, from Renaissance and modern tragedies to their Greek progenitors, and explore the ways in which tragedy has been variously theorized by ancient Greek commentators, modern theorists - notably nineteenth-century German philosophers - and postcolonial critics. In discussions that encompass but extend well beyond classical realism, these contributors ask if tragedy is a universal trope, how - and whether - it can help us to understand contemporary world politics, the extent to which sensitivity to tragedy has the potential to reduce its likelihood and the degree to which the lens of tragedy can help us to refocus prevalent assumptions within the discipline of International Relations. These challenging questions are addressed in the context of issues that range from global poverty and humanitarian intervention to American foreign policy in the so-called `war on terror'.

Toni Erskine is Professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, UK and Honorary Professor of Global Ethics at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
Richard Ned Lebow is Professor of International Political Theory at King's College London and James O. Freedman Presidential Professor Emeritus, Dartmouth College, USA.