ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on tragic and romantic/epic IR narratives. Examples of tragedies are found in the works of the so-called realist school, and the romantic/epic stories chosen for analysis come from the traditions of liberalism, Marxism and peace research. The characteristic features and general mood of both plots are highlighted through literary references that presumably are already familiar to many, and then certain pieces of IR research are compared to them. Oedipus and King Lear get to help in bringing out the tragic logic of Morgenthau’s Politics among Nations and Mearsheimer’s The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. Odyssey, St George and the Dragon and Sleeping Beauty demonstrate the romantic appeal inherent also in Fukuyama’s The End of History, Russett and Oneal’s Triangulating Peace, Wallerstein’s World-Systems Analysis and Galtung’s Peace: Research, Education, Action. Each IR narrative is approached as a whole: the analysis lays out the structure and main claims of the work and expounds on its plot-specific appeal. Whereas IR tragedians paint a dismal picture of the international arena and the destiny of the actors, romantic IR storytellers have confidence in mankind and a better future after all the monsters have been slain.
