Emotions and state power: towards the ‘emotional state’

This chapter is concerned with refining a conceptualization of the ‘emotional state’. Provisionally, this refers to the ways in which the nation-state has been directly and indirectly involved in the construction and deconstruction of the emotional life of the polity; the degree to which it reflects (and constructs) dominant emotional regime(s); and how these processes change through time. It offers a critical re-consideration of classical (Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes), modern (Marx, Durkheim, Weber), and contemporary (Elias, Bourdieu) state theory from a political sociology of emotions perspective. Emotions have been a central concern, both to the idea of the state, and to the practices of the modern state in particular, notwithstanding the widespread depiction of the state sphere as a bastion of rationality. Drawing on and reviewing recent work in this emerging area, especially around emotional governance, this chapter makes a case for the emotional foundations of the state and state power.