Introducing Political Feelings: Participatory Politics, Institutions, and Emotional Templates

Abstract

AbstractThe introduction offers an overview of the book’s main argument that, despite political theory’s and the general public’s ideas of politics as the realm of ‘rational’ decision-making, emotions have been potent in political practice since at least the late eighteenth century. Rather than purely subjective and individual expressions of feeling, emotions in the political sphere are best understood through the institutional settings in which they occur. Be it official institutions, buildings, organizations, clubs, parties, or informal gatherings, they provide individuals with emotional templates: guidelines, rules, and models on how to feel and express this feeling. While most studies on ‘political emotions’ focus on the present time, it is paramount, this chapter posits, to keep in mind their historical trajectory.