Emotions in Intercultural Relations

Abstract

A remarkable yet mostly overlooked feature of Akira Iriye’s 1967 masterpiece, Across the Pacific: An Inner History of American-East Asian Relations, is its implicit argument that emotions play a crucial role in international relations. As Iriye later described it, the book reflected his view that international relations could not be fully understood without delving into “the intellectual, emotional, and psychological sources” that policymakers and the public drew on in forming ideas and opinions, which in turn influenced decision-making.1 Even as this approach became widely influential in diplomatic and international history, however, explicit attention to emotions as an analytical tool seemed to drop out of the picture. Iriye’s attention to the role of mental images in shaping foreign policy and public opinion gave rise to a thriving subfield, and international historians became increasingly interested in the intangible elements of foreign relations, such as ideas, ideology, perceptions and misperceptions, and cultural interchange. Yet historians rarely focused on the emotions that underpinned these intangibles.