HPS³ Lecture - Professor Jennifer Mitzen - The Political Dynamics of Unthinkability

The seminar will be held in English.

The Hamburg Political Science Seminar Series (HPS³) features international speakers presenting cutting-edge research in all subfields of political science and political economy.

We welcome on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 - 17:15-18:45 CET in VMP9 B130:

Jennifer Mitzen (The Ohio State University | Department of Political Science)

Title: The Political Dynamics of Unthinkability

Abstract: Consensus on the unthinkability of some of the forms of mass killing from World War II (WWII) – genocide and nuclear weapons use – has shaped institutions and events of mass killing in the post-WWII international order. I will be presenting the theory chapter of a book manuscript in progress. The book embeds the concept of unthinkability in its history, then theorizes and illustrates its contemporary performative power to signify a moral limit for mass killing. The central question is, how does the designation of these modes of mass killing as unthinkable affect international politics? I argue that the perceived need to avoid the unthinkable, manifest in public claims of genocide or nuclear annihilation, evokes patterns of public talk and action oriented around that standard. These organize international knowledge of which killing is right, which is wrong, which remains invisible, and which constitutes the limiting case of the unthinkable. Defining mass killing against that absolute standard legitimates international institutions, from arms control treaties to criminal tribunals; produces icon/exemplars of the unthinkable; and, in so doing, renders legitimate a swath of killing and violence that comes to lie below the threshold. These dynamics condition international political responses to mass killing events, producing effects that reverberate in the international system. The argument sheds light on the boundaries of legitimate killing at the height of the liberal order, while raising new questions and directions for research.

The HPS³ seminars take place in person at the UHH. Please find the preliminary program (pdf) on the HPS³ Website.

We invite everyone interested to attend the HPS Seminar Series and are looking forward to seeing you. No prior registration is needed.