The Metaphorical Context of International Relations

Abstract

As discussed in the previous chapter, cognitive linguists have established that metaphors are integral to human thought and communication. Virtually all cognition involves conceptual mappings, and most linguistic expression to one extent or another employs metaphorical expression. This is no less true in the study of international relations than it is in any other area of linguistic communication. Some of these metaphorical expressions are used deliberately for the purpose of theory generation or to elucidate the contextual parameters of international relations. Others are used unselfconsciously much as they are in what Jack Donnelly (2009, 49) calls “ordinary-language” communication. Whatever the purpose, metaphors in international relations theory have an appreciable impact on how international relations is studied and analyzed. They provide a materiality to what are often abstract ideas; they are part of what Jim George (1994, x) identifies as a larger discursive project in the study of international relations that has established “the boundaries of legitimate and relevant theory and research” in the field of IR.