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Imagined worldsTalking about international relations means talking about things we cannot see, feel, or touch, but must imagine.Dyson, Stephen Benedict (2015-06-18). Otherworldly Politics (p. 3). Johns Hopkins University Press.The animation automatically begins.

Westeros and Essos

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The essence of Game of Thrones is the struggle for power, as noble dynasties fight to occupy the Iron Throne of Westeros, a seat roughly fashioned from razor-sharp swords that proves both figuratively and literally dangerous to sit upon. Great wars are fought as rulership is contended by the families of Targaryen, Baratheon, Lannister, and Stark. The smallfolk of Westeros are acted upon by the elite but given little voice. Westeros is protected by a great wall that provides a modicum of security against the wildlings in the North. Westeros is the centre of a game of thrones in which you either win or you die. This is the life of anarchy imagined by Thomas Hobbes, in which even the elite and wealthy do not have security, but must be constantly vigilant and wary of competitors and rivals.

The noblest characters in Game of Thrones die suddenly, horribly, and in failure. Despicable persons rise to power. The elite game is ruthless, the ordinary people reduced to trying to survive or stay out of the way, as jealous dynasties fight dirtily to the death.

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Cersei Lannister believes in what works.Power is power

Life in Westeros shows us the brute face of power as a social force---in this scene, we have two key characters, Cersei Lanister and Petyr Baelish. Cersei and Petyr grew up together, they know each other well, including each others vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Although Cersei was born into a noble family, Petyr clawed and fought his way up the ladder of power. Petyr tries to threaten to expose Cerseis secrets, and her power to claim the throne. But Cersei is having none of it, and in the process shows us the nature of power in Westeros.

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Game of Thrones: You Win or You DieSeize every advantageBe ruthless and feared.

-here, Ned has agreed to serve as the Hand of his friend Robert Baratheon in kings Landing, the centre of rule in Westeros-upon arrival, he learns that the presumptive heir of Robert is the offspring of Cersei and Jamie Lanister, not of Robert, and therefore ineligible for the throne-he tells Cersei he will tell Robert, who will hunt her down and kill her children-but, because he is a good man, he doesnt want the deaths of her children on his hands, so he gives her a chance to flee-she refuses, and notes that he himself once had the chance to sit the throne but refused, she believes he should have taken that opportunity since now it will be others who claim it-ultimate zero-sum game-once again we learn that doing the right thing will get you nowhere in Westeros, and that blind ambition and ruthlessness are the only things that will lead to success---forewarned, Cersei is able to outmaneuver Ned in the end.

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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.

Political pundit from 16th-century FlorenceBelieves that kings should rule in what is in the interests of the king, to maintain power and order in the kingdom, without consideration of moralsNiccolo MachiavelliThis slide is static anddoes not animate.

own life story would not be out of place in A Song of Ice and Fire. A high official and talented bureaucrat in his beloved city of Florence, Machiavelli was brutally tortured and exiled when the Medici family deposed the citys rulers. His love for his city, and for politics, was so great that Machiavelli overcame the scars of torture (he

Contrary to common myth, the Florentine philosopher was far from an advocate of amoral treachery; rather, he feared that by setting up such unreachable standards in political affairs, a statesman would doom himself to become deluded and, ultimately, betray those values all the more gravely. It is better to remain realistic and clear-headed about the limits of human virtue on the world stage, to see the field as it is and not as it ought to be. 8

Leader of RussiaRe-took Presidency in 2012At first, tried a lovable image, thenRe-branded himself as a strongmanVladimir PutinThis slide is static anddoes not animate.

Because subjects take a merciful ruler for a weak one: they love rulers at their own discretion, but fear at the discretion of their rulers, therefore it is better for a wise ruler to rely only on that which depends on him, and not on othersNiccoloMachiavelli.IlPrincipe. But a weak ruler is not forgiven for his slightest transgression, and in this situation the road from love to hate is a very short one. And a ruler who is hated is, according to Machiavelli, the most unhappy of all men: it is important .to avoid at all costs inciting the hatred of your subjects (ibid).

-Putin had given way to Dimitri Medvedev for several years, but before he stepped out into the presidential spotlight again in 2012, he tried to remake his image as a lovable, charismatic, and warm human being-it completely backfired, he was met with boos and hisses at every public event-Putin and his handlers then took a page from Machiavellis playbook, who advised that rulers should at all costs avoid inciting hatred in their people----but for Machiavelli, hatred and contempt was fed by the appearance of weakness, so exhibiting strength wa sthe best way to hold on to power

Machiavelli seems to have served Putin well.9

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Waymar is not a great leader, although hes born into itWaymars Leadership

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The Watchers on the Wall, also known as the Night Watch, are a group appointed with the sacred task of protectin Westeros from incursions of the Wildlings, who live North of the great barrier known as the Wall

-The Watchers are an interesting group, composed of criminals, bastards and other rejects who are either sent there against their will to prove themselves and find a new life or volunteer, as is often the case of those noble-born who have no inheritance

-the Nights Watchis mostly a group who honour loyalty and promote on the basis of merit, although in thise scene we see that being high-born often puts some who are ill-suited to leadership into command positions

In this scene, the very first from the series, Waymar Will and Gared are sent beyond the Wall to check on the activities of the Wildlings.

Waymar is young, inexperienced and arrogant, Gared is his subordinate, among the best and most experienced of the Watcher on the Wall.

Waymars ordered men over the top in the trenches of WWI, Waymars ordered men to charge tanks with cavalry in WWII, and Waymars were fragged in Vietnam.

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Power is Power

Todays Waymar?

Life in North Korea is not dissimilar to parts of Westeros---Kim Jong-un is the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He is the son of Kim Jong-il and the grandson of Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of the nation, also known as the Dear Leader.According to North Korean media, Kim Jong Il did a number of amazing things:

The first time he bowled, Kim Jong-il scored a perfect 300. Similarly, in his first-ever round of golf, he had five hole-in-one holes for a 38-under-par round. ( http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1222/Kim-Jong-il-Legendary-golfer-and-mythical-powers-even-in-death ). On the day he was born there was a perfect double rainbow and a new star in the sky; he learned to talk when he was eight weeks old, and while in college he wrote 1,500 books and six full-length operas, better than any other in the history of music. ( http://www.cbsnews.com/8334-503543_162-57345134-503543/kim-jong-il-10-weird-facts-propaganda/ )

-Kim Jong-un resembles Waymar in several ways: young inexperienced and in over his head, threatened by his inner circle, Kim Jon-un has instituted a series of bloody purges against his internal enemies.

-leadership in the real world is a lot like that in Westeros---what is the lesson? Arrogance and privilege dont make good leadership

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Realism in Westeros

The Wall is the home of the Nights Watch, an unruly group of what Tyrion calls sullen (i.e., uppity) peasants, debtors, and poachers

But the Wall actually represents many things in Westeros, just as walls do around the world today-walls are about keeping out others barbarians and wildlings, the unwashed and the poor and desperate-14

The Great Wall of China

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The Berlin Wall

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The Irony of Hungarys Wall

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In June of this year, Hungary prepared to build a 13-foot fence along its border with Serbia, to stem the influx of nearly 150,000 immigrants fleeing violence and persecution in Syria, Afghanistan, and Libya

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More walls than everElizabeth ValletBorders, Fences and Walls, 2014

The purpose of new walls has beento address two threats: migrants and terroristsThe upshot has been the creation of a worldwide wall of globalization that has become virtually impossible for the migrants from the South to scale.This slide is static anddoes not animate.

Inthe2014book"Borders, Fences and Walls," Elisabeth Vallet put the number of border walls built between 1945 and 1991 at 19.After the Cold War, 12 remained standing, most of them outside Europe. There were still fences, for example, between India and Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and North Korea and South Korea. But while Europe enjoyed a happy period of drawing together after the Cold War, the rest of the world wasn't so lucky: Fourteen more walls were built between 1991 and al-Qaeda's attack on the U.S. in 2001.By now, the 1991 number has tripled.

Today, the world hasthe most refugees since 1945: About 60 million people have been displaced from their homes, most by armed conflicts.18

More walls than ever

-the irony is that 1. walls dont work very well, people find ways around them or they attack them head-on as they Wildling armies did in the Battle of Castle Black-secondly, one one finds is that those you appoint to guard the walls become corrupted and mirror images of those they are meant to keep out, as this images suggests19

Realism in WesterosThe purpose of new walls has been not so much to convert a front line into a de facto border as to address two threats: migrants and terrorists (the two sometimes overlap or blend in the pro-wall discourse). The upshot has been the creation of a worldwide wall of globalization that has become virtually impossible for the migrants from the South to scale.

Brace yourselvesanother reason for the existence of walls is to keep out nature, and the fear of natures wrath is an important theme of GoT, just as it is in todays climate politics.

The sense that the world is finding multiple interlocking crises, from migrants to economic collapse to climate catastrophe, is a big theme in our world and in Westeros.

Whether we can fully brace ourselves for what is to come and adapt or whether we will be able to change in time to save ourselves, the problems are the same.

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Further ReadingOtherworldly PoliticsDyson, Stephen Benedict Johns Hopkins University Press 2015 Race for the Iron Throne: Political and Historical Analysis of "A Game of Thrones" Attewell, StevenBuddha Press. 2014

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