Politics and Emotions (eBook)

Marcos Engelken-Jorge is postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the Basque Country. Pedro Ibarra Güell is a former professor of political science at the University of the Basque Country and member of the research group Parte Hartuz. Carmelo Moreno del Río is associate professor of political science at the University of the Basque Country.

Contents 5
Politics & Emotions: An Overview
Have emotions been marginalized in Western Tradition? 8
Controversies Revolving around the Concept of Emotion 11
Areas of Research 16
Emotions and Research Methods 21
The Book 22
References 23
Emotions & Contemporary Political Theory
The Political Mind and Its Other 27
The Semiotic Structure of the Reason / Passion Dichotomy 30
Hyperrationality and the Theoretical Exclusion of Emotion in Mainstream Political Theory 35
The Contemporary Critique of the Reason/Passion Dichotomy: From Neuroscience to Philosophy and the Social Sciences 41
The Return of Passions to Political Theory 53
References 64
Methodological Issues 69
The Influence of Affective States on the Depth of Information Processing 70
Emotion and Affect 71
Information Processing 72
The Direct Influence of Positive and Negative Affective States on Behaviors and Judgments 73
Understanding the Direct Influence of Affect 74
The Indirect Influence of Positive and Negative Affective States on Information Processing 75
The Bipolar Conceptualization of Affect 76
Understanding the Differential Influence of Positive and Negative Affect 77
The Discrete Emotion Conceptualization of Affective States 79
Understanding the Differential Influence of Discrete Emotions of the Same Valence 82
Issues of Measurement 83
Future Directions and Conclusions 85
References 87
Barack Obama and the Political Science of Hope 92
Barack Obama and the ‘Politics of Hope’ 92
What is Hope? Defining the Concept 93
A Little of What We Know So Far about Positive Political Emotions 96
A Political Science of Hope 97
Hope and Campaign Rhetoric 98
Hope and Voters 99
Hope and Staffers, Volunteers, and Activists 99
A Note on Measuring and Testing ‘Political Hope’ 100
An Agenda for Political Hope 101
References 102
Perspectives on Politics & Emotions The Obama Phenomenon
Suspending Disbelief 105
Emotions in Political Communication 106
The Medium is the Message: Emotional Architectures of Meaning4 108
The Intimate Crowd 112
Obama and the Suspension of Disbelief 115
References 121
Persuading the Intractable 125
Obama and ‘Change’ 125
Political Communicators 126
Emotions, Identity and Politics 127
Discourse and Emotional Engagement 130
Emotion and Political Concepts 131
The Political Masses and Empathy 132
Emotion and Transference 133
‘Real’ and ‘False’ Rhetoric and Actions 134
What Next for the ‘Now’ Agenda? 135
References 136
"I’m Still Standing fo Hope and Glory!" 137
Emotional Politics 137
The Politics of Resentment 141
The Politics of Cosmopolitanism 143
Conclusion 147
References 148
Desiring Politics 150
Hope in 1992 152
Enthusiasm, Apathy, and the Ineloquence of the Political 156
Hope, Now 160
Hope and (Some) Leftists 164
Hope and Its Doings 167
Is Hope Fading Fast? 172
Capacities, Potentialities, Openings 175
References 178
About the Authors 184