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stellation of interlocking neural processes rather than by its own control center in I learn from these extradisciplinary resources without purporting to be an expert 
the mind. Moreover, research in social psychology and cultural theory suggests  in them. The book does not contain an exhaustive account of scholarly contri- 
that emotions are flexible and shifting responses that intersect with and blend into  butions in microsociology, neuroscience, or the emerging field of social neuro- 
one another. Fear, for example, is not generally confined to one eliciting object but  science. Nor do I expect my empirical claims to be fully consistent with all avail- 
migrates contagiously across to others. And emotional responses are intercon- able clinical evidence. My aim is not to glean fixed laws of emotional politics but 
nected, as when fear intensifies resentment or betrayal of trust sparks anger. The  instead to float synthetic, experimental, and contestable accounts of affective pro- 
book is therefore not about any one or two emotions, let alone about predicting the  cesses based on complementary theories and conceptual resources. IR scholars 
causal role these might have; rarely are single emotions stable enough in social  are unlikely to keep up with multidimensional problems such as social networking 
settings to have such uniform effects. Rather than add emotions alongside tradi-  or global protest movements without making bold, fallible steps into unfamiliar 
tional causal variables, then, my approach assumes that emotions shape political  disciplinary environments. I offer one possible route through two or three such 
agency through shifting patterns of co- and multi-causality.  environments, extracting from them new insights about emerging forms of political 
To make sense of the social properties of emotion, I draw especially from two  agency in global politics. The book is not intended to be the last word on emotion 
literatures well beyond international relations (IR). From research in the sociology  in IR but a step toward further conversation in a different, less intellectualist, key. 
of emotion, I derive an account of how emotions both generate and are generated  My reconceptualization of emotion is applicable to many cases in global politics. 

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by social interactions. Microsociology, the study of small-scale interpersonal inter-  The social processes at its core—the generation of affect through interactions, its 
actions, has never featured large in the grand study of international politics. And  contagious transmission, and its diffusion through communications tech- 
yet theories in this tradition can offer an account of how emotions propagate,  nologies—are implicated in various issue-areas and at national, subnational, and 
through microlevel interactions, into social patterns of affect. Sociologies of com-  transnational levels. In this book, I revisit several now-textbook cases from the last 
munication extend this account into situations involving technologically mediated  two decades whose emotional impact has been overlooked or misunderstood. 
interaction. The second literature is neuroscience. Although research on the brain  Each illustrates how emotional forms of agency can affect political outcomes, 
offers no clear theories of political behavior, it has quickly become a key resource  sometimes in surprising ways. Focusing on the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, I 
for conceptualizing the role of emotion in human agency. The science of the brain  offer a critical reassessment of the emotions involved in so-called ethnic conflict 
reveals, for example, that large parts of our emotional lives are nonconscious, that  and postconflict recovery. I also investigate popular responses to the terrorist at- 
the brain facilitates emotional recognition by simulating the emotions of others,  tacks of September 11, 2001, with a brief comparison to the Madrid bombings of 
and that the neural and somatic systems involved in generating emotions are  2004. Although in other ways very different, each of these cases provides insight 
deeply affected by socialization. Even by scanning only the brains of individual  into how emotions are generated and circulated across different geographic loca- 
human subjects, neuroscientists are confirming what sociologists have long be-  tions and cultural contexts. By assembling together cases normally farmed out to 
lieved: emotions play an indispensable role in regulating social interaction. As  specialists in foreign policy analysis, security studies, and transitional justice, I ex- 
these disciplines uncover the depth and importance of affect for human judgment  tract new insights into the genesis of emotion in social interactions, their circu- 
and decisionmaking, scholars of politics face both an obligation and an oppor-  lation through communications technologies, and their reciprocal and sometimes 
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