1st Edition
Competing Metaphors for International Relations Jungle or Playground?
By Riikka Kuusisto
Copyright 2026
186 Pages
by
Routledge
This book examines how the thinking towards international relations of political leaders, researchers, the media and the public is fundamentally metaphorical in nature: the abstract and far away constantly made concrete and familiar through the imaginative rationality of metaphors. It delves into ten competing structural metaphors: international relations as natural selection, as family dynamics,... Read more
Preface and acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I Imaginative rationality
- Conceptual metaphor theory
- Ontological foundation: states-as-persons
- Ten structural metaphors for international relations
Part II International relations metaphors in action
- International nature: violent jungles and evolutionary progress
- International families: loving parents and bitter feuds
- International balancing: mechanical weighing and mental stability
- International building: sturdy fortresses and open houses
- International games: prisoners’ dilemmas and buzzing playgrounds
- International business: bidding contests and fair trade
- International illnesses: fatal sicknesses and curable diseases
- International journeys: dead-end tracks and common paths
- International music: graceful waltzes and battle marches
- International puzzles: senseless riddles and solvable enigmas
Conclusion
References
Index
Biography
Riikka Kuusisto is a Senior Lecturer in World Politics at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She has published on themes including IR theory narratives, foreign policy rhetoric and conflict metaphors in journals such as International Politics, Journal of Peace Research, European Journal of International Relations, and Quarterly Journal of Speech. Her latest book International Relations Narratives: Plotting World Politics was published by Routledge in 2020.
