Otherworldly Politics

The International Relations of Star Trek, Game of Thrones, and Battlestar Galactica
Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4214-1716-5
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 268 g

A compelling look at the analogous political worlds of science fiction, fantasy, and international relations.

In Otherworldly Politics, Stephen Benedict Dyson examines the fictional but deeply political realities of three television shows: Star Trek, Game of Thrones, and Battlestar Galactica.

Dyson explains how these shows offer alternative histories and future possibilities for humanity. Fascinated by politics and history, science fiction and fantasy screenwriters and showrunners suffuse their scripts with real-world ideas of empire, war, civilization, and culture, lending episodes a compelling intricacy and contemporary resonance.

Dyson argues that science fiction and fantasy television creators share a fundamental kinship with great minds in international relations. Screenwriters like Gene Roddenberry, George R. R. Martin, and Ronald D. Moore are world-builders of no lesser creativity, Dyson argues, than theorists such as Woodrow Wilson, Kenneth Waltz, and Alexander Wendt. Each of these thinkers imagines a realm, specifies the rules of its operation, and by so doing shows us something about ourselves and how we interact with one another. Combining intellectual and real-world history with lucid theoretical analysis, the book is a vital challenge to scholars and a spur to creative thinking for fans of these three influential shows.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dyson, Stephen Benedict

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Medien & Gesellschaft, Medienwirkungsforschung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Verwaltungswissenschaft, Öffentliche Verwaltung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
1. The International Relations of Other Worlds
2. International Relations and Televised Science Fiction Come of Age
3. The Logical Approach to International Relations
4. Constructing International Relations
5. Homogenization and Difference on Global and Galactic Scales
6. International Crises in Our World and Other Worlds
7. Robot Wars
Afterword: The Five Most Political Episodes of Star Trek, Game of Thrones, and Battlestar Galactica
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Dyson, Stephen Benedict
Stephen Benedict Dyson is an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of The Blair Identity: Leadership and Foreign Policy and Leaders in Conflict: Bush and Rumsfeld in Iraq.

Stephen Benedict Dyson is an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of The Blair Identity: Leadership and Foreign Policy and Leaders in Conflict: Bush and Rumsfeld in Iraq.