The International Relations of Middle-earth: Learning from The Lord of the Rings

7. Middle-earth as a Source of Inspiration and Enrichment

—chapter 7— Middle-earth as a Source of Inspiration and Enrichment We now move from using LOTR to illustrate existing IR discussions to using it as a mirror to challenge existing perspectives and raise new and interesting questions. Chapter 1 relied on the literary technique of following a theme to gain insight into the implications for Order and Justice of the quest to destroy the Ring. The present chapter uses two other literary techniques—comparison and tracing, de‹ned momentarily—to reassess scholarly approaches associated with different LOTR characters in the quest for understanding of IR. In the ‹rst part of this chapter, we reassess the Great Debates and feminist approaches, illuminated in chapters 3 and 5, respectively. We compare ideas associated with male and female characters from the same race in order to explore parallels and divergences in assumptions and highlight how different kinds of experience encourage different kinds of assumptions, goals, insecurities, and concerns. This suggests that building on a broad range of experience (women’s as well as men’s) creates a stronger basis for understanding. In the next part of this chapter, we illustrate this point by drawing on experience from Middle-earth and our world regarding key issues: security and preemptive war, global health, state and human security, learning and international institutions, and global ethics. The ‹nal section sets the stage for the concluding chapter. 163 take stories with a grain of salt Reexamining the connections made in earlier chapters can produce additional insight about the relationship of theories to our world. Consider earlier observations about characters and races from Middle-earth in relation to IR’s Great Debates in IR theory and feminist approaches. It quickly becomes apparent that it is sometimes simpler to use a character to illustrate an IR approach but other times easier to use the stereotype of an entire race. For example, it is more evident that Hobbit communities illustrate constructivist insights about the social creation of (in)security than it is that Frodo, Pippin, or some other Hobbit is a particularly good exemplar. Put differently, theories can explain aspects of characters as opposed to individuals being held up as illustrating any given point of view from IR. This illustrates how systems manifest “emergent properties” from the interactions of individuals (Mansbach and Rafferty 2008: 12). Individual action can have unintended consequences for the system as a whole. For example, the belief systems of individuals—including (gendered) stereotypes and enemy images—may have a precipitating in›uence on causing war; however, the institutionalization of those kinds of belief systems in the structures of states and international society may provide a broader understanding of the basis for con›ict and cooperation. As this suggests, any particular analytical framework should be taken with a grain of salt. Illustrations in many cases work better in certain frameworks or levels than others; this includes levels of analysis (introduced in chapter 2), as well as multilevel gendered institutions, as highlighted by gender-sensitive lenses (introduced in chapter 5). As with Hobbits in the Shire, the central tendency among members of the system is evident when their behavior is viewed as a collective. In Middle-earth, outliers, such as Lotho Sackville-Baggins (who joins the ruf‹ans occupying the Shire) and Bilbo (a con‹rmed eccentric), are to be expected but do not alter the group norm. Similarly, although different characters are associated with different approaches, there is signi‹cant overlap among them. For example, different feminist approaches would agree that public work, assumed to be performed principally by men, relies on and is interconnected with private work, disproportionately performed by women. This is made clear by the experiences of multiple women in Middle-earth that we have highlighted—including those of Lobelia, Dís, Wandlimb, Éowyn, and 164 • the international relations of middle-earth Galadriel, as well as others not discussed such as Arwen, Rosie Cotton, and Goldberry. The position of each of these women highlights a division of labor in their societies, which, as in our world, de‹nes public work and public life as more valuable than but separate from (while reliant on) private and informal work. While multiple characters can highlight similar insights, any particular character can also illustrate multiple sets of insights. The Dwarf Gimli’s change of heart about the Elves is one case in point. His shift to a favorable view may be taken to illustrate relationship building...