Forging the World ─ Strategic Narratives and International Relations

Scholars in international relations and communication studies examine techniques of persuasion and strategic narratives in the context of international relations. Policymakers and scholars concerned with communicating policies will find a framework for understanding how strategic narratives are formed and projected by political actors for the purpose of constructing a shared meaning of the past, present, and future and shaping the behavior of domestic and international actors. The first part of the book offers a theoretical framework for thinking about narratives in global politics and looks at ethical issues in the study of these narratives. Strategic narratives are broken down into three categories: identity narratives, system narratives (such as the War on Terror), and policy narratives. The second part of the book presents country case studies, looking at strategic narratives of the Arab spring, Japan’s 2011 disaster, China’s foreign policy, and US-Russian narratives regarding the post-Cold War global system. Annotation ©2017 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)