Communication between people of different linguistic, social and cultural backgrounds is burgeoning nowadays in virtually all spheres of human interaction. Meanwhile, communication within domains such as diplomacy, international cooperation and military or political conflict – typically fraught with the hazards of misconception and misinterpretation – needs to be maximally effective and constructive. In this context, it becomes imperative to carefully elaborate language- and culture-sensitive strategies to minimize these risks, especially with regard to the appropriate assessment and response to affect, which permeates all levels of human interaction.

In response to this exigency, the ELIN research project, financed by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) and co-financed by the NCCR in Affective Sciences and the Centre Interfacultaire en Sciences Affectives (CISA), aims to foster a strategic interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars from various local and foreign institutions and professionals from international organizations in an attempt to provide the international community with cross- cultural insight into the emotions most relevant in conflict scenarios. Four central emotion concepts were chosen for their relevance in conflict and negotiation: ANGER, GUILT, SHAME and PRIDE. The project, both theoretical and applied, aims to produce a contrastive account of their meaning construction and verbal communication in eight relevant and widespread languages of the world: the 6 official languages of the UN (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian) together with German and Hebrew. In this way, the project seeks to enhance public awareness on cultural differences in the realm of emotional display and to contribute to the professional training and practices of professional dealing with international communication.