What is...Love and Care in International Relations?

What does it mean to take love and care seriously in the "deathworlds" of International Relations? How can these concepts reshape how we understand and navigate worlds marked by loss and violence? This episode shifts the focus of International Relations’ traditional preoccupation with war, violence, and insecurity to the themes of love and care. Host Polly Pallister-Wilkins is joined by Roxani Krystalli (University of St Andrews) and Philipp Schulz (University of Bremen), who explore the roles of love and care in reshaping worlds after loss, including ecological and interpersonal grief, as part of a collaborative project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and the German Research Foundation. Roxani’s work bridges feminist peace and conflict studies with the politics of nature and place. Drawing on her experience as both a researcher and a humanitarian practitioner, she focuses on gendered harms, justice, and peacebuilding – themes her recently published book “Good Victims: The Political as a Feminist Question” (2024, Oxford University Press) explores. Philipp investigates the gendered dynamics of armed conflict and violence, with a particular focus on masculinities and queer experiences in conflict settings. His work also examines sexual violence against men and issues surrounding forced migration.Tune in for a groundbreaking perspective that challenges conventional approaches to International Relations, bringing attention to themes often dismissed as “lovey-dovey” yet essential for understanding and remaking worlds in the wake of loss and violence.