Kinship in International Relations: Introduction and framework

Abstract

This chapter identifies and discusses some of the ways in which kinship may be of use to IR scholars. The chapter offers examples of how kinship relations have manifested themselves historically in international relations, seeking to demonstrate how blood kinship from the beginning has been accompanied, reinforced and challenged by metaphorical kinship – that is, how certain non-blood related relations in or via practice come to be treated as kin, with the duties, obligations and expectations that entails.