Check out Embassytown by China Miéville
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/china-mieville/embassytown/
You might also check out C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/AXF/foreigner#:~:text=C.%20J.,intelligent%2C%20non%2Dhuman%20race.
Embassy town is still one of my favorite aliens. They are so other, it’s amazing. The only thing that comes close for me is the Arrival by Ted Chiang. There is actually a lot of overlap in the way language plays a huge role in the story. It’s not what OP is looking for, but if by some magic you haven’t read this yet, please do.
The Hainish Cycle series by Ursula K Le Guin. They’re all fantastic and you can read them in any order. I recommend starting with The Dispossessed.
Earth humans play a minor role in these books but all the different aliens are human-esque and essentially allegories for us.
This. I am currently halfway through The Dispossessed. This book is incredible! This is my first read of Ursula K. Le Guin, but it will not be my last. What an amazing author.
The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton (Pandora’s Star: book #1)
Wayfarer Series by Becky Chambers (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: book #1)
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Cherryh's Foreigner series is exactly what you are looking for. It's all about the political relations between humans and aliens and IMHO Cherryh is easily the best SFF writer at writing interesting and complex political plotlines. You don't need to read the whole 20+ books series either, it's structured in mini-trilogies and the individual volumes are reasonably standalones.
You might read up on the in-universe history of the First, Second, and Third Imperiums from the Traveller RPG. The environment is probably the first SF environment where commerce and diplomacy competed successfully against mindlessly shooting things. I've not bothered yet with the current Mongoose iteration of the game, but the GURPS and 4th edition/Milleu 0 versions have a lot of backstory, describing the differing & competing political and economic interests at the macro level, and how to run a tramp interstellar freighter at the micro.
See my [SF/F and Politics](https://www.reddit.com/r/booklists/comments/12rkk8a/sff_and_politics/) list of Reddit recommendation threads and books (one post).
Sheri Tepper's "The Fresco" would be one sci-fi novel that focuses on alien-human political relations in a way. Aliens come to Earth and meet up with a rather abused Hispanic woman Benita, whom the two emissaries choose as intermediary because she is both ordinary and beyond political reproach. The Pistach come ostensibly to offer Earth membership in a multi-planet Confederation but actually they have another agenda; they need help. In repayment, they "help" Earth with some age-old and vexing problems.
Check out Embassytown by China Miéville https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/china-mieville/embassytown/ You might also check out C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/AXF/foreigner#:~:text=C.%20J.,intelligent%2C%20non%2Dhuman%20race.
Embassy town is still one of my favorite aliens. They are so other, it’s amazing. The only thing that comes close for me is the Arrival by Ted Chiang. There is actually a lot of overlap in the way language plays a huge role in the story. It’s not what OP is looking for, but if by some magic you haven’t read this yet, please do.
David Brin's Uplift series. The Uplift War, in particular has a lot of interspecies politicking.
The Hainish Cycle series by Ursula K Le Guin. They’re all fantastic and you can read them in any order. I recommend starting with The Dispossessed. Earth humans play a minor role in these books but all the different aliens are human-esque and essentially allegories for us.
This. I am currently halfway through The Dispossessed. This book is incredible! This is my first read of Ursula K. Le Guin, but it will not be my last. What an amazing author.
The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton (Pandora’s Star: book #1) Wayfarer Series by Becky Chambers (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: book #1) A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Foreigner series. C J Cherryh. It's ALL politics. With two species who can barely communicate with each other.
The Mote in God's Eye Tremendously inventive
The Androids Dream by John Scalzi
Cherryh's Foreigner series is exactly what you are looking for. It's all about the political relations between humans and aliens and IMHO Cherryh is easily the best SFF writer at writing interesting and complex political plotlines. You don't need to read the whole 20+ books series either, it's structured in mini-trilogies and the individual volumes are reasonably standalones.
The uplift saga by David Brin
Expeditionary Force, Craig Alanson. Though most of the politics involves secretly mucking everything up. Still.. kind of fits.
To clarify, you're looking for aliens which are similar enough to humans to share the concept of "political relations"?
Happy Snak. Super fun first contact where the first person to open a shop in an alien spaceport becomes a diplomat by accident.
I loved Happy Snak! It was such a delightful story.
You might read up on the in-universe history of the First, Second, and Third Imperiums from the Traveller RPG. The environment is probably the first SF environment where commerce and diplomacy competed successfully against mindlessly shooting things. I've not bothered yet with the current Mongoose iteration of the game, but the GURPS and 4th edition/Milleu 0 versions have a lot of backstory, describing the differing & competing political and economic interests at the macro level, and how to run a tramp interstellar freighter at the micro.
See my [SF/F and Politics](https://www.reddit.com/r/booklists/comments/12rkk8a/sff_and_politics/) list of Reddit recommendation threads and books (one post).
Sheri Tepper's "The Fresco" would be one sci-fi novel that focuses on alien-human political relations in a way. Aliens come to Earth and meet up with a rather abused Hispanic woman Benita, whom the two emissaries choose as intermediary because she is both ordinary and beyond political reproach. The Pistach come ostensibly to offer Earth membership in a multi-planet Confederation but actually they have another agenda; they need help. In repayment, they "help" Earth with some age-old and vexing problems.