Irony in International Politics - Johanna Vuorelma

Irony in International Politics

By: Johanna Vuorelma

Hardcover | 9 April 2025

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Irony in International Politics investigates ironic language in international politics, focusing on how political leaders use irony to articulate failures of the liberal international order. Underlining the political, performative, and affective nature of irony in international politics, the book introduces a novel typology of four forms of irony: justice-seeking irony, hegemony-seeking irony, recognition-seeking irony, and disruption-seeking irony. Irony is typically understood as a tool of the underdog who seeks to reveal the hypocritical nature of the powerful, but Irony in International Politics shows that irony is increasingly used by the powerful who expose that there is a wide gap between the ideal and the actual in international politics. Studying cases from Turkey, the United Kingdom, Hungary, the United States, Sweden, Germany, Greece, and Russia, the book illustrates how the post-Cold War era represents a distinct scene of irony with its particular identity struggles and power asymmetries that have prompted ironic reactions.

Industry Reviews
Ironists of the World, unite! Vuorelma diligently analyses how both the established and the outsiders in the liberal world order reveal its contradictions through the shared discursive strategy of irony. Irony in International Politics is a must read for IR scholars interested in the study of discourse and agency.--Bahar Rumelili, Ko? University

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