Kristin Haugevik is Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), and Head of its Global Order and Diplomacy Research Group. Her first monography, Special Relationship in World Politics was recently published in Routledge's New International Relations Series (2018).

Iver B. Neumann is Director of Norwegian Social Research (NOVA). He holds doctoral degrees in Politics and Social Anthropology. His most recent book is Russia and the Idea of Europe (Routledge, New International Relations Series, Second ed., 2017).

1. Kinship in International Relations: Introduction and framework Iver B. Neumann, Kristin Haugevik and Jon Harald Sande Lie. 2. Kinship as an International Ordering Principle in the Nineteenth Century Morten Skumsrud Andersen and Benjamin de Carvalho. 3. Kith, kin and inter-state relations: International politics as family life Kristin Haugevik. 4. Kinship diplomacy, or diplomats of a kin Halvard Leira. 5. 'Brothers in arms': Kinship, gender and military organisations Nina Græger. 6. Colonized children: Chechnya in Russia Julie Wilhelmsen. 7. Brother, where Art Thou? Kinship in Turkish Region-building Einar Wigen. 8. Kinship in Indian Politics: Dynasties, nepotism and imagined families Francesca R. Jensenius. 9. A Command-Chain of Brothers: Kinship in Chinese Foreign Policy Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson. 10.Like Grandfather, Like Grandson: Kinship as a legitimating force in Japan's international relations Wrenn Yennie Lindgren. 11.Conclusion: The Heterogeneity of Kinship Systems and World Politics Andreas Aagaard Nøhr

While kinship is among the basic organizing principles of all human life, its role in and implications for international politics and relations have been subject to surprisingly little exploration in International Relations (IR) scholarship. This volume is the first volume aimed at thinking systematically about kinship in IR - as an organizing principle, as a source of political and social processes and outcomes, and as a practical and analytical category that not only reflects but also shapes politics and interaction on the international political arena.
Contributors trace everyday uses of kinship terminology to explore the relevance of kinship in different political and cultural contexts and to look at interactions taking place above, at and within the state level. The book suggests that kinship can expand or limit actors' political room for maneuvereon the international political arena, making some actions and practices appear possible and likely, and others less so. As an analytical category, kinship can help us categorize and understand relations between actors in the international arena. It presents itself as a ready-made classificatory system for understanding how entities within a hierarchy are organized in relation to one another, and how this logic is all at once natural and social.