Publications by Iver B. Neumann
Håkon Glørstad (2022) ‘Prehistorical International Relations: How, Why, What’, Global Studies Quarterly 2 (4), https://, 2022
Homo Sapiens stands almost alone in having a past of developed social and political organisation... more Homo Sapiens stands almost alone in having a past of developed social and political organisation. However, we would not have guessed that from looking at extant International Relations (IR) literature. While IR is quick to claim questions of organisation between polities as its core, it has not even begun the work of generalising about this issue over the entire million-year span during which the species has evolved. With a few exceptions that are noted below, we have left prehistory – that is, the 99.5 per cent or more of our past for which we have no written sources -- unexplored. There is an obvious but not particularly scientific reason for this, namely the discipline’s presentism. There are also good reasons why we have not taken on prehistory so far. It is really only during the last fifty years or so that archaeology, which specialises in pre-history, has established data enough for social sciences to generalise from. Those data are material, and it is inherently tricky to move from material data to establishing generalisations about social and political organisation. Doing so takes special training that few if any social scientists have. While these are doubtless good reasons, it is also the case than none of them is insurmountable, particularly if we join hands with archaeologists. Given that archaeology already deals in social analysis – in the United States, it is organized as one of the four fields of cultural anthropology and so is even categorized primarily as a social science – there are already overlaps that we will draw on in the following.
Ethnography, 2022
For ethnography, the production of data through observation of and conversations with interlocuto... more For ethnography, the production of data through observation of and conversations with interlocutors in the field, to be productive, two preconditions have to be met. First, field assess. For access to a Foreign Ministry, citizenship is a must, and being an insider is an advantage. Secondly, cultural competance; the linguistic and cultural ability to follow what interlocutors say and imply. Other fields may also be relevant, alone or in combination (so called multi-sited field work). The chapter details some directly relevant contributions from anthropology, and gives an overview of available International relations literature. It then discusses the need for ethnographers to be conscious of how they are situated/positioned in the field, and discusses the process leading from observation to notes to text. The chapter concludes with the claim that ethnography is the best method with which to capture the foeign policy process understood as a social form.
Diplomatic Tenses: A Social Evolutionary Perspective on Diplomacy, 2020
Offering an alternative and a complement to existing histories of diplomacy, this book discusses ... more Offering an alternative and a complement to existing histories of diplomacy, this book discusses change in the form of 'tipping points', which it understands as the culmination of long-term trends. Part I discusses social evolution on the general level of institutions. It argues that in cases where a diplomatic institution's tipping points are defined by the types of entities that make it up, the consular institution has evolved from concerning polities of independent traders to becoming ever more of a state concern. Part II challenges the existing literature's treatment of diplomacy as an elite, textual affair. It lays the groundwork for studying visual diplomacy and observes that the increasingly marginal vision of diplomacy as a confrontation between good and evil survives in popular culture. The book concludes by identifying the future of diplomacy as a struggle between state-to-state based diplomacy and diplomacy as networked global governance.
THIS IS A BOOK AND SO UNFORTUNATELY NOT FOR SHARING HERE
Journal of Global Security Studies, 2020
This article applies the growing International Relations literature on state performance and perf... more This article applies the growing International Relations literature on state performance and performativity to the question of how practitioners categorize different kinds of crises. The aim is to add value to the crisis literature by paying more attention to how performances are staged for multiple audiences, how statehood is produced as a collective (as opposed to an individual) body, and how and why one and the same state actor performs statehood in different ways. Drawing on interviews and participant observation, we discuss how one state apparatus, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), performs statehood during different types of crisis. The MFA has institutionalized crisis management in three very different ways, depending on whether the MFA defines the crisis as a security crisis, a humanitarian crisis or a civilian crisis. Different crises have different audiences, are performed in different repertoires, and produce three different aspects of the state that we name, respectively, caretaking, do-gooding and sovereign. Bringing the performativity literature to the study of crises gives us a better understanding of the statecraft that goes into using crises as opportunities to make visible and strengthen the state as a presence in national and global social life. Conversely, our focus on the specificity of various state performances highlight how the performance literature stands to gain from differentiating more clearly between the straightforward performing of practices, and the performing of state identity by means of same practices on the other.
The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 2019
Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 2019
Part of diplomatic work is public, which means that a diplomat has to be presentable, that is ‘le... more Part of diplomatic work is public, which means that a diplomat has to be presentable, that is ‘lean, smart, or decent enough to be seen in public’ (Oxford English Dictionary). Part one recognizes the recent spate of work on aesthetics and representation in the social sciences and diplomacy studies, and asks why it was so late in coming when representation has always been constitutive of diplomacy. In answer, it points to the enlightenment’s distrust of visuals and particularly to the twentieth-century reaction against Nazi aestheticizing of politics. Part two sets out what it takes to stage a successful visual performance and points to three factors: the agent’s own preparations, audience assessment and mediation to broader public. Part three analyzes two particularly successful performances of accreditation and highlight how they succeed because they were deemed to be particularly presentable by being particularly smart and decent, respectively. In conclusion, I argue that smartness trumps decency. This offers female diplomats more options than males, but also incurs greater risks.
Beastly Diplomacy, 2017
Beastly Diplomacy
Halvard Leira & Iver B. Neumann (2017) The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13 (1): ... more Beastly Diplomacy
Halvard Leira & Iver B. Neumann (2017) The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13 (1): 1-23.
Abstract
Even if beastly iconography has been pervasive in international politics, the study of diplomacy has traditionally focused solely on man as a political animal. Animals in diplomacy have been treated as a curiosity. In this article we stake a claim for a more serious engagement with beastly diplomacy, arguing that animals matter through their ontic status; by representing states; as diplomatic subjects and as objects of diplomacy. We place a particular emphasis on how animals are a special kind of diplomatic gifts, with a variety of meanings and functions. Taking animals seriously implies a rethinking of both the process and the outcomes of diplomacy.
Keywords
Animal diplomacy; gifts; symbols; taboos; negotiations; elephants; dogs
Drawing on identity and prototype theory, the article sets out to analyse the historically domina... more Drawing on identity and prototype theory, the article sets out to analyse the historically dominant monumentalizing ways in which polities try to shore up their own Selves by halting their Others in time. The first part of the article discusses how monuments represent Self/ Other relations from ancient Mesopotamia in the East to modern Britain in the West by limning off a constitutive outside, be that as visual absence or presence. Temporality is of the essence here, with the basic idea being that the Self is in temporal motion, while the Other is literally petrified. I then postulate that the Other is halted in time in three basic ways: as visual absence, as dead and as subjugated. Crucially, however, the Second World War is actually the end point of the extraordinary stability of monumental ways in which to represent the Other. We see the tentative emergence and damning of a fourth Other, namely a previous incarnation of the Self. I conclude, with Norbert Elias, that the fading away of the Other as dead and as subjugated is significant as part of a civilization process that works against denying the Other its future agency.
The relationship between the study and practice of security has not only changed considerably ove... more The relationship between the study and practice of security has not only changed considerably over the last 20 years, but has also become more varied, where ever more actors perform ever more specialized tasks of both analyzing and providing security. Once dominated by a principle of segmentary (territorially delimited) differentiation, we argue that the relative strength of the national framing has declined and that functional differentiation has increased over the last three decades, resulting in transnationalization in what is increasingly a market for security expertise and a proliferation of types of actors engaged in knowledge production surrounding security (e.g. International Crisis Group) as well as the practice of security. Resulting from this proliferation, there will be category-defying practices of security, for example the move towards “hybrid warfare” and in the realm of cyber security.
Kinship in International Relations, 2018
Introducing and overviewing studies of kinship and their relevance to IR
A genealogy of the concept of colony in honour of Roland Barthes' book Living Together
Drawing on identity and prototype theory, the article sets out to analyse the historically domina... more Drawing on identity and prototype theory, the article sets out to analyse the historically dominant monumentalizing ways in which polities try to shore up their own Selves by halting their Others in time. The first part of the article discusses how monuments represent Self/ Other relations from ancient Mesopotamia in the East to modern Britain in the West by limning off a constitutive outside, be that as visual absence or presence. Temporality is of the essence here, with the basic idea being that the Self is in temporal motion, while the Other is literally petrified. I then postulate that the Other is halted in time in three basic ways: as visual absence, as dead and as subjugated. Crucially, however, the Second World War is actually the end point of the extraordinary stability of monumental ways in which to represent the Other. We see the tentative emergence and damning of a fourth Other, namely a previous incarnation of the Self. I conclude, with Norbert Elias, that the fading away of the Other as dead and as subjugated is significant as part of a civilization process that works against denying the Other its future agency.
The book Mirrors Barthes conceptual essays in Living Together, my chapter traces meanings of 'col... more The book Mirrors Barthes conceptual essays in Living Together, my chapter traces meanings of 'colony'.
Drawing on identity and prototype theory, the article sets out to analyse the historically domina... more Drawing on identity and prototype theory, the article sets out to analyse the historically dominant monumentalizing ways in which polities try to shore up their own Selves by halting their Others in time. The first part of the article discusses how monuments represent Self/Other relations from ancient Mesopotamia in the East to modern Britain in the West by limning off a constitutive outside, be that as visual absence or presence. Temporality is of the essence here, with the basic idea being that the Self is in temporal motion, while the Other is literally petrified. I then postulate that the Other is halted in time in three basic ways: as visual absence, as dead and as subjugated. Crucially, however, the Second World War is actually the end point of the extraordinary stability of monumental ways in which to represent the Other. We see the tentative emergence and damning of a fourth Other, namely a previous incarnation of the Self. I conclude, with Norbert Elias, that the fading away of the Other as dead and as subjugated is significant as part of a civilization process that works against denying the Other its future agency.
Chapter in a centenary celebration of Roland Barthes's book Living Together, riffing on his Chapt... more Chapter in a centenary celebration of Roland Barthes's book Living Together, riffing on his Chapter on 'Colony'.
Extant discussions of diplomacy understood as a social institution either take the form of histor... more Extant discussions of diplomacy understood as a social institution either take the form of histories or genealogies. This chapter attempts to complement these discussions by understanding the emergence of diplomacy in terms of evolutions. Specifically, I draw on Eldredge and Gould's idea of punctuated equilibria or tipping points, understood as the culmination of long-term trends. Taking note of the importance of big game hunting as a precondition for human cooperation generally, I go on to identify five more tipping-points. These are classificatory kinship as a template for regular cooperation; regular and ritualized contacts between culturally similar small-scale polities; regular and ritualized contacts between culturally different large-scale polities; permanent bilateral diplomacy and permanent multilateral diplomacy. Inconclusion, I discuss what seems to be a trend on its way to become a new tipping-point, namely that states increasingly hybridise their diplomacy by working with and through non-state actors.
One would expect that the development of regionalization between states or parts of states will h... more One would expect that the development of regionalization between states or parts of states will have some bearing on democratization since it is a prerequisite for democracy that there exist more nodes of power than one, and also that there exists some kind of an arena on which politics may play itself out. Yet, the relationship between democracy and regionalization is very far from clear. The problem may be stated simply. Within the parameters set by the Western political canon, in order for there to be democracy, there must first be a particular demos -a people. Where the delineation of the people is unclear, and more than one human collective is seen to have overlapping rights and obligations that make for overlapping loyalties and identities, it is hard to conceive of democratic politics. Since regionalization is a phenomenon involving more than one state, and various parts of one state, it does not lend itself immediately to the perspectives offered by the literature on democracy.
Uploads
Publications by Iver B. Neumann
THIS IS A BOOK AND SO UNFORTUNATELY NOT FOR SHARING HERE
Halvard Leira & Iver B. Neumann (2017) The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13 (1): 1-23.
Abstract
Even if beastly iconography has been pervasive in international politics, the study of diplomacy has traditionally focused solely on man as a political animal. Animals in diplomacy have been treated as a curiosity. In this article we stake a claim for a more serious engagement with beastly diplomacy, arguing that animals matter through their ontic status; by representing states; as diplomatic subjects and as objects of diplomacy. We place a particular emphasis on how animals are a special kind of diplomatic gifts, with a variety of meanings and functions. Taking animals seriously implies a rethinking of both the process and the outcomes of diplomacy.
Keywords
Animal diplomacy; gifts; symbols; taboos; negotiations; elephants; dogs
THIS IS A BOOK AND SO UNFORTUNATELY NOT FOR SHARING HERE
Halvard Leira & Iver B. Neumann (2017) The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13 (1): 1-23.
Abstract
Even if beastly iconography has been pervasive in international politics, the study of diplomacy has traditionally focused solely on man as a political animal. Animals in diplomacy have been treated as a curiosity. In this article we stake a claim for a more serious engagement with beastly diplomacy, arguing that animals matter through their ontic status; by representing states; as diplomatic subjects and as objects of diplomacy. We place a particular emphasis on how animals are a special kind of diplomatic gifts, with a variety of meanings and functions. Taking animals seriously implies a rethinking of both the process and the outcomes of diplomacy.
Keywords
Animal diplomacy; gifts; symbols; taboos; negotiations; elephants; dogs
Liberale argumenter har formet den norske fredstanken, betoningen vår av folkerettens sentrale plass og av internasjonalt samarbeid i ordnede, universelle former. Men hvor kommer disse ideene fra, og hvorfor slo de så dype røtter i Norge? Forfatterne viser hvilke forestillinger og ideer som har vært og er tonengivende i norsk utenrikspolitikk, og setter disse inn i et større, politisk og idehistorisk perspektiv. De viser blant annet hvordan den liberale fredstanken har vært en vedvarende kraft i det utenrikspolitiske ordskiftet og diskuterer hvorfor Norge har manglet en konservativ idetradisjon. Norges naboland har hatt et markant innslag av maktpolitiske resonnementer som har manglet i den norske idetradisjonen.
Contributors trace everyday uses of kinship terminology to explore the relevance of kinship in different political and cultural contexts and to look at interactions taking place above, at and within the state level. The book suggests that kinship can expand or limit actors’ political room for maneuver on the international political arena, making some actions and practices appear possible and likely, and others less so. As an analytical category, kinship can help us categorize and understand relations between actors on the international arena, it presents itself as a ready-made classificatory system for understanding how entities within a hierarchy are organized in relation to one another, and how this logic is all at once natural and social.