ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the rationale for a book that focuses on hermeneutic analyses in global politics. The chapter argues that people rather than abstract entities such as states shape how international relations work. Accordingly, hermeneutic encounters need to be taken into consideration as an empirical phenomenon but also methodologically. To this end, the chapter points to the work of hermeneutic philosophers, especially Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricœur. Hermeneutic concepts, such as horizons, capture the contextualised trajectory of people and help establish a linking element between culture, knowledge, and power. With a view to developing hermeneutic methodology further, the chapter introduces the concepts of performance and topoi. The former refers to the ways in which horizons play out in practice, while the latter are narrative devices to make sense of the researcher’s observation. The chapter concludes with an overview of the book.
