Prof. Dominique Moïsi delivered his keynote address at the first Leiden University Owada Symposium on 24 May 2022

In his lecture Emotions in International Relations Moïsi stated that three dominant emotions - hope, humiliation, and fear - play a decisive role in geopolitics. Whereas he previously saw hope in Asia and fear in the West, he now concludes that ‘negative emotions’ (fear and humiliation) are winning globally at the expense of ‘hope.’ He refers to this as the triumph of the ‘bad cholesterol’ in international politics. He argues for a new international order (a new ‘Treaty of Westphalia’) and emphasises that, despite fragmentation, humanity is in the same boat regarding global challenges like climate change. He ends on the relatively positive note that a dialogue of civilisations amongst equals is rare but not impossible.