Friendship, State, and Nation

Abstract

Friendship is sometimes assumed to denote a very separate set of concerns to those that have traditionally been thought central to International Relations (IR): sovereignty, states, and nations. Brought into relation to these themes, the concern of friendship might appear at best novel or marginal — if it is to be considered pertinent at all. Yet there might be pause to reconsider this conclusion. In recent decades a body of literature has emerged that challenges this view (for example, King and Smith, 2007; Devere and Smith, 2010; Oelsner and Vion, 2011). Could it be that this literature indicates something about the structure and implications of IR that might otherwise be overlooked? Moreover, does ‘friendship’ encourage a re-engagement and restructuring within the ontology of IR itself (see Berenskoetter, 2007)? To pose this question is to consider the ways that friendship offers a challenge and alternative to both how IR is understood and the kinds of things that it takes as its basic objects of study and concern. This chapter suggests that friendship does in fact offer such a challenge. Friendship is not so much an object or identifiable state but a way of conceptualising relations. Friendship suggests that the focus for understanding both the state and the nation should be to see them as specialised friendship groups.