Ritual and authority in world politics

Main author: Kustermans, Jorg
Other authors: Svensson, Ted
Costa López, Julia
Blasenheim, Tracey
Hoffmann, Alvina
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-42562
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic JZ International relations
description The contributions to this Forum on Ritual and Authority in World Politics examine the role that ritual performances play in the constitution of positions of authority and the maintenance of relations of authority in historical and contemporary international relations. The Forum takes as its point of departure three related observations: (i) that recent years have witnessed a remarkable upsurge of interest in ritual as a recurring feature of international practice, but (ii) that this recent interest in ritual has not extended, thus far, to the study of international authority, (iii) in spite of political anthropologists’ long-standing claim that the performance of ritual is absolutely crucial to the production of authority. The performance of ritual grounds, makes tangible and enhances various forms of authority, including forms of international authority, historical and contemporary. The contributions to this Forum demonstrate the veracity of that claim in five different empirical contexts—Byzantine diplomacy, early modern cross-cultural encounters, British imperialism in India, military lawyering in America’s armed forces, and the casting of ballots in Crimea and the US—and attempt also to explain precisely how it is that ritual served to undergird and stabilise authority in these various instances.
format Journal Article
author Kustermans, Jorg
author_facet Kustermans, Jorg
Svensson, Ted
Costa López, Julia
Blasenheim, Tracey
Hoffmann, Alvina
authorStr Kustermans, Jorg
author_letter Kustermans, Jorg
author2 Svensson, Ted
Costa López, Julia
Blasenheim, Tracey
Hoffmann, Alvina
author2Str Svensson, Ted
Costa López, Julia
Blasenheim, Tracey
Hoffmann, Alvina
title Ritual and authority in world politics
publisher Taylor and Francis
publishDate 2021
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/42562/