ABSTRACT
The title of this chapter roughly borrows from the title of a novel written by the author George R.R. Martin. He is renowned for his work The Game of Thrones (GoT), which was turned into a popular television show. The novel A Dance with Dragons is a part of the larger series that deals with rival houses competing for power in the fictional land of Westeros. Interestingly, many of these houses have different creatures, such as dragons, lions, wolves, etc., as their sigils. A few are powerful houses with rich resources, while many are middle- or smaller powers, which are in alliance with or subservience to the larger houses. The narrative of GoT is similar to the real-world interactions of states. As an example of fiction mirroring reality, A Dance with Dragons is replete with competition and cooperation among kingdoms. This interaction is based largely on power, with kingdoms using a web of diplomatic, strategic, and security practices to converse with each other. It can be somewhat stated that these actors enter into a well-rehearsed and choreographed dance. Here, importance should be given to the word “choreographed,” as the dialogues among states in the 21st century follows a fixed choreography. The dance among nation-states is dictated through the language of foreign policy, which, according to Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya, is a technical, rational process that is influenced by numerous factors. It involves the interplay of a wide variety of basic determinants, political institutions, organisational pulls and pressures of a bureaucratic/political nature, and the personality of the decision-makers (Bandyopadhyaya 2003, 2).
