Thinking Big: Maria Mälksoo on Ritual Deterrence

The discipline of International Relations (IR) has been showing increasing interest in the constitutive and facilitating role of ritual at various levels of world politics. But the general parameters of ritual action in international politics remain yet to be pronounced. What amounts to ritual conduct in contemporary world politics? What drives ritual action and what is its purpose? What does ritual action enable in international relations? The ERC-funded Consolidator Grant project “Ritual Action: Making Deterrence Matter in International Security and Memory Politics (RITUAL DETERRENCE)” probes the ontological and epistemological status of ritual in the international practices of deterrence, addressing thereby the broader questions about the ways rituals facilitate bonding, mitigate tensions, affectively charge and fuel action in world politics.

Maria Mälksoo is Professor of International Relations at the University of Copenhagen and an editor of Review of International Studies. Her main research area is the intersection of security and memory politics, with an empirical focus on Eastern Europe. Her current research project examines the ritual features and functions of deterrence and is funded by the European Research Council.

Discussants:
lsa Hedling, Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology, Lund University
Haakon Ikonomou, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen
Michel Anderlini, Department of Political Science, Malmö University
Marja-Liisa Öberg, Faculty of Law, Lund University

Registration: marja-liisa [dot] oberg [at] jur [dot] lu [dot] se (marja-liisa[dot]oberg[at]jur[dot]lu[dot]se)

The seminar forms part of the 'Thinking Big'-series organised by the Global Europe & International Cooperation Research Group of the Centre for Modern European Studies (CEMES).