ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on IR comedies and ironic/satirical narratives: pacifism, constructivism and critical theory are identified as approaches accommodating writers of comic tales, and ironic/satirical scorn is evidently the style that goes well together with feminist, poststructuralist and postcolonial critique. As in the previous chapter, literary examples are employed in the analysis of IR stories. Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Pride and Prejudice are drawn on in studying Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj, Wendt’s Social Theory of International Politics and Linklater’s Transformation of Political Community as comedies. The Rape of the Lock and A Modest Proposal pave the way for the examination of Enloe’s Bananas, Beaches and Bases, Campbell’s Writing Security and Barkawi’s Globalization and War, all understood as ironic/satirical stories. The structure, main claims and plot-specific appeal of each IR work are presented while paying special attention to the actor roles, the logic of progression and the denouement. IR comedies recount the story of fallible but ingenious and persistent heroes moving toward a happy end, while ironic/satirical IR research points at the numerous violent practices sustaining our world and underlines the difficulty of changing them.
