The growing body of research on emotions in international relations (IR) has generated a vast body of literature. This body of literature has a number of interesting questions, debates and theoretical positions on the properties of international actors and how they are embedded in international structures. Emotions have long been considered in IR as self-evident and irrational by-products of cognitive processes and until recently remained largely implicit and under-theorised. The first wave of research lamented the discipline's neglect and marginalisation of emotions in mainstream IR theories and concepts. The second wave turned to specific ways of incorporating the consideration of emotions in existing research in specific areas, from diplomacy, security, war and ethnic conflict to transnational actors, institutions, governance and conflict management. The literature on this topic is so extensive that many even speak of an "emotional turn". Its intellectual roots come from various disciplines, such as psychology, neuroscience, sociology, history and cultural studies.