Lecture
Performing Non-Alignment: A Dramaturgy of Alignment Postures in International Relations
- Date
- Friday 11 September 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 0.16
Abstract
Actors in the Global South often claim to practice non-alignment, but if analysts of international security are to be believed, there is no ‘true’ and ‘genuine’ non-alignment in world politics. Exponents of non-alignment – from the Cold War to the present – appear to have leaned towards one or another major power when it comes to that ultimate yardstick for assessing alignment choice: defense and security cooperation. Non-alignment, then, appears as empty rhetoric and a misleading façade at best or a naïve and risky worldview at worst. I argue that various conceptualizations overlook a key register in which claims to non-alignment are produced. Combining Goffman’s social theory with the work on repertoires, I advance a dramaturgical conception of non-alignment. In this view, non-alignment is an ensemble of staged and theatrical performances before public audiences that give dramatic realization to a ‘line’ of equivocation in inter-polity interactions. I illustrate this conception with cases from Cold War Asia, and drawing on archival sources in Delhi, Singapore, and Jakarta. I suggest this conception allows for a different understanding of the façade of non-alignment. While facades are typically associated with masquerade and deception, I emphasize a cognate understanding of facades as fronts, exteriors, and surfaces that are productive of social and political possibilities, including and especially in times of rapid change.
How to attend
This lecture is open to staff and students. Advance registration is not required.