New Article with Emma Hutchison on Ritual, Emotion, and Change in World Politics

I can’t remember ever having been happier to see an essay published than this one on “Ritual, Emotion, and Change in World Politics,” which has just come out open access in International Theory.

This was Emma’s last main project. She gave it her everything, often working out of hospitals and under exceptionally difficult circumstances. Her Ritual Paper, as she called it.

In the end Emma ran out of time and life. I then spent the next 18 months since her passing doing my best to complete the project as Emma had envisaged it.  I hope I have done her justice. 

Publishing with International Theory has been a fantastic experience. Massive thanks to the entire team. Emma and I had worked with a different team before, led by Alex Wendt, when we co-edited a special issue for International Theory a dozen years ago on the topic of Emotions and World Politics.

This time too, the editorial team was amazing. David Welch, in particular, has gone out of his way in being both very thorough and supportive from beginning to end - far more than one could expect from an editor. The process has been quite long and involved two rounds of unusually detailed and insightful reports by three referees. Each round was followed by substantial revisions and additional reserach that each took a couple of months of work. It was all well worth it.

In short: this has been one of my best journal experiences. And I think Emma would be pleased with how it all went and what came of it. Thanks to IT, to the three referees, and to many colleagues who have provided feedback on - and inspiration for - the essay.  They are mentioned in the acknowledgments and feature in the bibliography.