Humorous States: IR, New Diplomacy and the Rise of Comedy in Global Politics

Humour and laughter inform the affective economy of the everyday life in global politics; jokes can occupy an instrumental role in political and diplomatic communication, while various practices of comedy embody and enact hierarchies of power within society. This Special Issue on Humour and Global Politics situates the politics of joking and laughter within the disciplinary debates and emergent research dilemmas of International Relations (IR). In different ways, the articles explore the important and sometimes difficult role played by humour in ordering, performing and—in certain circumstances—subverting the theory and practice of global politics.