Politics & Emotions: An Overview

Abstract

This book is a joint effort aimed at advancing our understanding on the role of emotions in politics. Traditionally, politics in democratic societies has been conceived of as a matter of power and competing interests. Emotion, for its part, has been largely disregarded or conceived as a threat to a rational and wellordered society. In the last decades, however, this dominant hyperrationalist liberal viewpoint has been challenged. A number of scholars have started to consider the role of emotions in political behaviour, political mobilization, political judgement and decision-making, political communication, et cetera. Even some normative political theorists have included emotions in their research agenda and challenged, also from within the field of normative political theory, the dominant hyperrationalist liberal perspective. In this regard, this book is not path-breaking. It attempts simply to contribute to advance our understanding of the complex and multidimensional role played by emotions in politics. Nowadays, emotions are not simply ignored, as they used to be, by political scientists and political sociologists. However, after years of research, many of the conundrums revolving around the topic of politics and emotions remain unsolved. In addition, research has contributed to raising new questions. This book aims at clarifying some of them and posing new ones which should lead future research.