Interlingual Relations
Global Politics in a Polyglot World
Published on 4. February 2026
Book
Hardback
308 pages
978-0-472-07786-1 (ISBN)
Description
International politics is often conducted in two languages or more, and since no two languages are exactly the same, what is possible to say in one language may be impossible to say in another. Translation is at the heart of global politics, and interlingual relations traverse time, space, culture, and state borders. Interlingual Relations builds on emergent literature on translation in International Relations (IR) to propose a unique research agenda for scholars of global politics, offering multiple directions and sets of principles for sustained study.
The contributors use various methodologies to explore these interfaces and encounters in different sites, bringing together multiple subfields, approaches, and disciplinary paradigms across IR's history. Together they offer a more truly global perspective on international affairs, going beyond the hegemony of English to demonstrate the interconnectedness between "high" politics and everyday life. They show the role of translation in global politics as one of world-making, whereby social roles, rules, and responsibilities establish the semblance of order despite not sounding or meaning the same to all actors. In establishing Interlingual Relations as a foundational part of IR, the book offers another key to studying global interactions and the high political stakes in the theories, methods, and ethics of translation.
The contributors use various methodologies to explore these interfaces and encounters in different sites, bringing together multiple subfields, approaches, and disciplinary paradigms across IR's history. Together they offer a more truly global perspective on international affairs, going beyond the hegemony of English to demonstrate the interconnectedness between "high" politics and everyday life. They show the role of translation in global politics as one of world-making, whereby social roles, rules, and responsibilities establish the semblance of order despite not sounding or meaning the same to all actors. In establishing Interlingual Relations as a foundational part of IR, the book offers another key to studying global interactions and the high political stakes in the theories, methods, and ethics of translation.
Reviews / Votes
"This extraordinarily rich book does IR the huge favor of revealing what has long remained hidden in plain sight: the world is polyglot-with attendant consequences for global politics. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Caraccioli, Wigen and their contributors for helping us catch up with reality." * Vincent Pouliot, Professor and Chair of International Studies, Universite de Montreal * "I have high hopes for the reception of this book. With a collection of uniformly excellent essays, addressed to diverse translation inquiry problematics - theory, history, and order - the collection's diverse contributions have everything necessary to fulfill the overall aim of the intervention, to demonstrate the 'difference a systematic understanding of translation in global politics would make for how IR is defined, practiced, and studied.'" * Michael J Shapiro, Journal of Peace Research *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Illustrations
4 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-472-07786-1 (9780472077861)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Mauro Jose Caraccioli is Associate Professor of Political Science and Core Faculty in the ASPECT Program at Virginia Tech.
Einar Wigen is Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oslo.
Einar Wigen is Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oslo.
Content
List of Figures
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Preface (Iver B. Neumann)
Introduction: Global Politics in a Polyglot World (Mauro J. Caraccioli and Einar Wigen)
Section I: Translation (and) Theory
Chapter 1: The Interlingual Configurations of International Politics (Einar Wigen)
Chapter 2: Translation and Explanation (Patrick Thaddeus Jackson)
Chapter 3: The Hidden Politics of Translation: On Interpreters' and Translators' Agency in International Relations (Anatoly Reshetnikov)
Section II: Translation (and) History
Chapter 4: Interlingual Relations in a Persianate International Order (Alireza Shams-Lahijani)
Chapter 5: Translation Power: Rethinking the Evolution of the International System with Insights from Sino-Tibetan Relations Surrounding the 1914 Simla Convention (Amanda J. Cheney)
Chapter 6: Transversing Civilizational Hierarchies? The Introduction of Latin Alphabet in Turkey (Bahar Rumelili and Senem Aydin Duezgit)
Chapter 7: Historias for the Empire: Indigenous Translators and the Re-Productions of Linguistic Conquest (Mauro J. Caraccioli)
Chapter 8: Kidnap Yourself a Translator: The Social Embedding of Translation in First Encounters (Julia Costa Lopez)
Section III: Translation (and) Order
Chapter 9: Morgenthau in Translation: On Languages, Academic Environments, and the Making of International Relations in the United States and Germany (Filipe dos Reis and Oliver Kessler)
Chapter 10: Constructing Incommensurables: Hebrew's Machiavellian Moment (Daniel J. Levine)
Chapter 11: Interlingual Politics of Linguistic Choice (Jelena Subotic)
Chapter 12: "The Most Important People Here Are Not Us-It's Those Translators": The Hidden Labour of Afghan and Iraqi Local Interpreters (Sara de Jong)
Chapter 13: Interlingual Relations and the Limits of Hegemony: US Public Diplomacy in the Arab World, 2002-2003 (Jane Darby Menton)
Conclusion (Einar Wigen and Mauro Jose Caraccioli)
Index
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Preface (Iver B. Neumann)
Introduction: Global Politics in a Polyglot World (Mauro J. Caraccioli and Einar Wigen)
Section I: Translation (and) Theory
Chapter 1: The Interlingual Configurations of International Politics (Einar Wigen)
Chapter 2: Translation and Explanation (Patrick Thaddeus Jackson)
Chapter 3: The Hidden Politics of Translation: On Interpreters' and Translators' Agency in International Relations (Anatoly Reshetnikov)
Section II: Translation (and) History
Chapter 4: Interlingual Relations in a Persianate International Order (Alireza Shams-Lahijani)
Chapter 5: Translation Power: Rethinking the Evolution of the International System with Insights from Sino-Tibetan Relations Surrounding the 1914 Simla Convention (Amanda J. Cheney)
Chapter 6: Transversing Civilizational Hierarchies? The Introduction of Latin Alphabet in Turkey (Bahar Rumelili and Senem Aydin Duezgit)
Chapter 7: Historias for the Empire: Indigenous Translators and the Re-Productions of Linguistic Conquest (Mauro J. Caraccioli)
Chapter 8: Kidnap Yourself a Translator: The Social Embedding of Translation in First Encounters (Julia Costa Lopez)
Section III: Translation (and) Order
Chapter 9: Morgenthau in Translation: On Languages, Academic Environments, and the Making of International Relations in the United States and Germany (Filipe dos Reis and Oliver Kessler)
Chapter 10: Constructing Incommensurables: Hebrew's Machiavellian Moment (Daniel J. Levine)
Chapter 11: Interlingual Politics of Linguistic Choice (Jelena Subotic)
Chapter 12: "The Most Important People Here Are Not Us-It's Those Translators": The Hidden Labour of Afghan and Iraqi Local Interpreters (Sara de Jong)
Chapter 13: Interlingual Relations and the Limits of Hegemony: US Public Diplomacy in the Arab World, 2002-2003 (Jane Darby Menton)
Conclusion (Einar Wigen and Mauro Jose Caraccioli)
Index