The Institutionalization of International Friendship
Title:
The Institutionalization of International Friendship
Author:
Vion, Antoine
Appeared in:
Critical review of international social and political philosophy
Paging:
Volume 10 (2007) nr. 2 pages 281-297
Year:
2007-06
Contents:
International friendship is often neglected in international relations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze international friendship empirically as a result of the construction of multiple institutional facts. Two main fields are investigated in this study: the development of city twinnings and cultural institutes. Paying attention to emotions, rituals, and unusual events, allows in which to understand the ways friendship is socially constructed. Studying international friendship as a pattern of institutional facts invites attention to the specific contexts in which they emerge. In Europe, after World War II, the embeddedness of friendship politics in local communities has partly gone through a process of invention of communal traditions. European communal history has been a major symbolic resource in this process. The embeddedness of international friendship in local communities has favoured the longstanding relations. Governmental initiatives might have big impacts, but rarely go on without local support or relief. Yet, achieving friendship might not favour a broad and open community but, on the contrary, favour a dense network of closed communities. This is what we may call Tocqueville's paradox.
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