Book review: The Choreography of Resolution: Conflict, Movement and Neuroscience
| Author | Thania Acarón |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0010836715597947 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
402 Cooperation and Conflict 51(3)
To support her argument Miller uses qualitative case analysis. Out of several supplied,
two cases in particular illustrate how her theory is used. Firstly, Miller argues that India’s
surprise “declaration of nuclear weapons state status” in 1998 with its first nuclear tests
since the original in 1974 was driven by PII. By 1998 India felt a “sense of grievance
against the nuclear club” composed of former colonizers, who were perceived as attempt-
ing to permanently lock countries such as India out of the nuclear order with the
indefinite extension of the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) in
1995. Secondly, Miller examines China’s vehement opposition in 2003 to granting Japan
permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council, which she argues stems
from deep-seated resentment against Japan across Chinese society, rooted in two episodes
of historical humiliation at the hands of the Japanese in the First and Second Sino-Japanese
Wars, and compounded by an additional perception of Japan as “unremorseful of the
atrocities that it inflicted on China.”
In summary, Miller is able to make the case that colonialism was a traumatic experi-
ence with lasting repercussions for affected states, and her argument that colonialism can
have a significant impact on post-colonial decision-making is highly probable; however,
the reader finishes the book not entirely convinced by the application of her theory within
the supplied case studies. Miller does not effectively shut the door on security-based
explanations, as large parts of the empirical support provided for PII could still realisti-
cally be explained by security considerations, and the author does not adequately refute
this possibility. Empirically, her case study analysis of China provides more support to
her main argument than the India case, albeit making the author’s claim of generalizabil-
ity problematic.
In conclusion, Miller draws attention both to the need to further incorporate colonial-
ism and Asia in general into international relations (IR) research, and to the shortcomings
systemic theories continue to have in explaining the behavior of lower-tier powers, due
to their overwhelming focus on the economic and military aspects of the traditional great
power analysis. Overall, Miller treads new ground in IR and provides a novel argument.
While not entirely convincing, this work illustrates the continued shortcomings psycho-
logical approaches have eternally faced in supporting their arguments empirically.
Brian Turnbull
University of Kansas
Michelle LeBaron, Carrie MacLeod and Andrew Floyer Acland (eds), The Choreography of
Resolution: Conflict, Movement and Neuroscience, American Bar Association: Chicago, 2013; 306
pp.: ISBN 9781627221375, $69.95
This book is an edited compilation that evolved from a research-practice series of work-
shops in Switzerland, which brought together an experienced choreographer with sea-
soned conflict resolution and mediation specialists and researchers. They met in an
intensive week format for four years, experiencing movement in the mornings and
exploring the relationship between embodiment and conflict in the afternoons. The book
is targeted at practitioners and theorists interested in the integration of embodied
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