Journal articles on the topic 'Feminist theories of international relations'

AbstractFeminist International Relations (IR) theory is haunted by a radical feminist ghost. From Enloe's suggestion that the personal is both political and international, often seen as the foundation of feminist IR, feminist IR scholarship has been built on the intellectual contributions of a body of theory it has long left for dead. Though Enloe's sentiment directly references the Hanisch's radical feminist rallying call, there is little direct engagement with the radical feminist thinkers who popularised the sentiment in IR. Rather, since its inception, the field has been built on radical feminist thought it has left for dead. This has left feminist IR troubled by its radical feminist roots and the conceptual baggage that feminist IR has unreflectively carried from second-wave feminism into its contemporary scholarship. By returning to the roots of radical feminism we believe IR can gain valuable insights regarding the system of sex-class oppression, the central role of heterosexuality in maintaining this system, and the feminist case for revolutionary political action in order to dismantle it.

This study deals with the Feminist challenge to the Mainstream International Relations Discipline (IR) - rationalist theories, especially Realism - and the mainstream's responses to this challenge. It addresses the issue in five steps. Firstly, it sheds light on how Feminism is related to International Relations. Secondly, it examines how Feminist IR theorists criticize the Mainstream IR due to its state-centric approach and argue that being obsessed with anarchic international system prevented analysis of social relations, including gender relations. Thirdly, the study addresses how Feminism exposes the gender biases in central terms such as power, autonomy, rationality, security, and state. Fourthly, it examines how Feminist writing on IR challenges the dichotomies of the Mainstream IR. Fifthly, the study examines how the Mainstream has responded to that challenge. The conclusion argues that although Feminist challenge to mainstream IR cannot be deemed successful in reconstructing IR, Feminism still enriches our understanding of global politics.

The growth of Feminism which has given rise to a new study in the International Relations (IR) field is worth to follow. Not only since it is able to contribute to the academic discipline of IR in theoretically challenging the traditional approach to understand the world politics, but also since it is able to contribute practically because of its nature as a socio-political movement. Nevertheless, in the IR itself there is always a question concerning the possibility of Feminism to be considered a mainstream theory. This article tries to discuss the theoretical contribution of, as well as some issues followed, the development of Feminism in the study of international relations all this time. It finally argues that Feminism can be considered a mainstream theory of international relations so long as there are conversations between traditional theories of international relations and feminists theories of international relations. Keywords: Feminism, International Relations, mainstream theory Abstrak Perkembangan Feminisme yang telah melahirkan suatu kajian baru dalam ilmu Hubungan Internasional (HI) layak untuk disimak. Tak hanya karena ia mampu menyumbang secara teoritis kepada disipilin ilmu HI dalam menantang pendekatan tradisional untuk memahami politik dunia, tetapi juga karena ia mampu menyumbang secara praktis mengingat bahwa sejatinya ia merupakan sebuah gerakan sosial-politis. Meski demikian, dalam HI sendiri selalu ada pertanyaan mengenai peluang Feminisme untuk diterima sebagai sebuah teori yang lazim. Tulisan ini mencoba mendiskusikan sumbangan teoritis dari, sekaligus perdebatan-perdebatan yang mengikuti, perkembangan Feminisme dalam kajian hubungan internasional selama ini. Argumen yang dibangun pada akhirnya ialah bahwa Feminisme dapat dianggap sebagai sebuah teori tentang hubungan internasional yang lazim sepanjang terdapat percakapan antara teori tentang hubungan internasional tradisional dan teori feminis tentang hubungan internasional. Kata kunci: Feminisme, Hubungan Internasional, teori mainstream

The paper analyses the general features of the ongoing debate within the feminist approach to the International Relations studies with the aim to discover whether its proponents continue to tear down the traditional norms of this academic discipline at the beginning of the 21st century, to give innovative insights, and to illuminate the power structure hidden in the so-called ?mainstream? IR theories. The paper discusses the most important feminist research questions and topics of the day, the basic feminist argumentation and its genesis, and stresses internal disagreements and criticism towards some theoretical standpoints within the feminist branch of the International Relations discipline. The analysis focuses on research articles and books published in the period 2001-2016 and primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom - the countries where feminist academia is fairly developed in the discipline of International Relations. The author concludes that despite the influence strengthened by the increased number of published research papers, books, and collections of papers in the early 21st century, the proponents of feminist IR theories continue to struggle for their ?place under the Sun? within the mainstream of the International Relations academic community. The epistemological contribution of feminist theories to the International Relations discipline is best seen in regard to their dissident innovations, which ?soften? the traditionally rigid framework of mainstream theory by expanding the list of legitimate research topics and introducing postpositive methodological approaches and techniques.

Are women's movement and feminist theories still connected to radical politics and the interest in changing social inequalities, when feminism has been `institutionalized', for instance in the academia, and has become a mainstreaming issue in social policies? This main question was put to eminent feminist scholars, with the aim of investigating the renewed critical role of international feminism and women's/gender studies in society, science, information, education and research. A reconstruction of the main changes which have occurred to women's movements and feminist theories in the last decades were the core of the interview, stressing differences and disagreement, also in relation to the new sociopolitical claims, supported by younger generations. The conclusion was that feminism has not lost its historical political mission, even though the world scenario and ideologies have dramatically changed. Indeed, feminism has become transcultural and `glocal', facing new socioeconomic inequities induced by globalization both in western societies and countries in development, confronting with the transformation of collective/gender identities and questioning the increasing importance of (bio)technologies.

The development of feminist jurisprudence in recent years has made a rich and fruitful contribution to legal theory. Few areas of domestic law have avoided the scrutiny of feminist writers, who have exposed the gender bias of apparently neutral systems of rules. A central feature of many western theories about law is that the law is an autonomous entity, distinct from the society it regulates. A legal system is regarded as different from a political or economic system, for example, because it operates on the basis of abstract rationality, and is thus universally applicable and capable of achieving neutrality and objectivity. These attributes are held to give the law its special authority. More radical theories have challenged this abstract rationalism, arguing that legal analysis cannot be separated from the political, economic, historical and cultural context in which people live. Some theorists argue that the law functions as a system of beliefs that make social, political and economic inequalities appear natural. Feminist jurisprudence builds on certain aspects of this critical strain in legal thought. It is much more focused and concrete, however, and derives its theoretical force from immediate experience of the role of the legal system in creating and perpetuating the unequal position of women.

ABSTRACTAll critical theories lay claim to some kind of account not only of the present of international politics and its relation to possible futures, but also of the role of critical theory in the present and future in international politics. This article argues that if critical international theory is to have a future that lives up to its revolutionary ambition, then it needs to listen more carefully to the voices of postcolonial and feminist critics and take on board the heterotemporality of international politics.

In her recent book published after the election of Donald Trump as the US President in 2016, Cynthia Enloe argues that the patriarchy, similar to our smart phones, has updated itself as a reaction against the achievements of the second and third wave feminisms. The updated patriarchy has this time renewed itself through the beliefs and values about the ways the world works (2017). The competing foreign policies representing the hypermasculine hegemonic masculinity of the current world politics and its authoritarian leaders are the outputs of this new updated version of patriarchy. Enloe doubts that having gained sustainability with its updates, the patriarchy could be fought against simply with street demonstrations, as it was before. The patriarchy could be forced to retreat only by incessantly asking “curious” feminist questions that would expose all masculine patterns of life (2017). Continuously asking questions without giving up or giving in would make the patriarchy transparent and vulnerable. In the face of curious, non-stop questions from a gender perspective and the conscious use of the terms supporting gender equality, the patriarchy, albeit updated and sustained, does not stand a chance. Enloe explains the reason why incorporating gender in International Relations has been considered irrelevant by the power- and security dominated character of the discipline. Also, because the heavy majority of the academics associated with International Relations are male, it is them who choose what is important and worthy of ‘serious’ investigation (Enloe, 2004, 96). This masculine attitude, however, has been clearly excluding multiple human experiences and hindering their capacity to create new possibilities for peaceful co-existence in international relations (Youngs, 2004). As a matter of fact, when we look at the emergence of International Relations as a separate discipline, and the political theories that it takes as its first point of reference, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen) – the human rights document at the time of the French Revolution – Machiavelli’s The Prince; and Man, the State and War, written in 1959 by Kenneth Waltz, the founder of neo-realism, were the mainstream writings that brought liberal (libertarian) and realist perspectives to the discipline of International Relations, respectively. The fundamental aim of these texts was, in fact, to make an analysis based on history and ‘his’ problems. Although these texts put forward a desire for rights and freedoms, as well as the achievement of peace, these values are mostly targeted towards men. Thus, over time, the prominent concepts of International Relations, such as security and hegemony, were defined from a masculine and patriarchal perspective. For instance, from the theoretical view of realists, hegemony is attributed to the order established and led by the most powerful state of the international system– both militarily and economically– while sovereignty evokes the Hobbesian Leviathan (the Devil), with its masculine nature and might. Raewyn Connell responds to these masculine conceptualizations by pointing out that hegemony includes organized social domination in all spheres of life, from religious doctrines to mundane practice, from mass media to taxation (1998: 246). As Connell reminds us, “hegemonic masculinity” expresses the domination of men over women intellectually, culturally, socially, or even politically, thus establishing an unequivocal linkage between gender and power (Connell, 1998). Just as the Western approach to reading and identifying the East and its fiction found an answer in Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism, the theory of political realism put forth by Hans Morgenthau was criticized by Ann Tickner for conceptualizing international politics through the lens of an assumed masculine subject (Tür & Koyuncu, 2010: 9). Critical theory and postmodernism, as alternative approaches in International Relations, drew attention to the otherization of different geographies, civilizations and identities. Yet, on the issue of gender equality, the otherization of women has not been sufficiently recognized; the superiority of man and patriarchy is made possible through the othering of women. From this point of view, it would be beneficial to make a holistic reading of the International Relations literature, and to dismantle these masculine concepts by asking “curious” questions of the discipline. In Terrell Carver’s words, “Gendering IR” is...a project; “gendered” IR is an outcome” (Carver, 2003: 289). In order to achieve such outcome, it bears utmost importance for the gender-equality advocates to insist on, institutionally and practically, gender-based approaches and to not agree with the priority list of the masculine agenda. Security, order, control and retaliation increasingly dominate the discourse shaping the world politics. The gender perspective in International Relations develops to create alternative paradigms that would break this vicious circle of (in)security. Feminist theory in International Relations has demonstrated significant progress since the 1990s and opened pathways in an uncharted territory. Cynthia Enloe, Ann Tickner, Spike V. Peterson and Christine Sylvester, among others, are the most prominent forerunners of this field. Through their works, feminist theory has adopted a perspective critical of the masculinity and the masculine values of international politics by taking not only ‘women’ but a wider category of gender into its centre. These feminist scholars have deconstructed International Relations theories by posing gender-related questions and displayed the masculine prejudice embedded in the definitions of security, power and sovereignty. The feminist theories of International Relations have thus distinguished themselves from the other theories of the discipline by paying a ‘curious’ attention to the power hierarchies and relation structures through inclusiveness and self-reflexivity (True, 2017: 3). As Cynthia Enloe puts it, the gender perspective in International Relations must first be guided by a feminist consciousness (2004: 97). The feminist International Relations, however, although more than a quarter of century has passed since its emergence, are still struggling with the masculine theories to be considered as an equally legitimate way of understanding how the world works. Various epistemological, ontological and ethical debates may have enriched the field (True, 2017: 1), but at the same time, too many as they are, such debates may paradoxically be accusing the spreading-thin of the gender coalition. The capacity of the feminist International Relations’ ethical principles to participate in the global politics has been limited to the United Nations Security Council’s decision number 1325 and the Swedish feminist foreign policy. The feminist attempt to facilitate substantial change and interaction by creating a normative agenda has been called ‘normative feminism’ by Jacqui True (2013: 242). Normative feminism is a project of institutionalising gender in foreign policy by focusing on socio-economic and political changes. The special issue here is our attempt to partake in this project of change in international relations. We have aimed to enhance the visibility of the gender norms of behavior and decision-making with the presupposition that they would pose an alternative to the masculine norms in International Relations by better supporting the human priorities of peace and co-existence. Adopting Judith Butler’s notion of performativity, the feminist existence in international politics has an undeniable connection to engaging in continuous activities. As Rihannan Bury suggests, “what gives a community its substance is the consistent repetition of these ‘various acts’ by a majority of members.” “Being a member of community,” therefore, “is not something one is but something one does” (2005: 14). In Turkey, too, in order to challenge the recognition of the ‘hyper’ version of the hegemonic masculinity as the only viable world view, gender-charged normative discourses, interactions and agendas must be continuously created and multiplied. We hope that the Turkish literature-review and the articles published here will serve this purpose. As is the situation in all disciplines, the feminist International Relations has nurtured many onto-epistemologies, some in competition with one another. Such multitude, though definitely a richness, has been challenging the feminist stance’s capacity to stand united against the hypermasculine hegemonic masculinity. In her latest book, Enloe calls for a continuous struggle of a new and wider feminist coalition against the updated authoritarianism of the patriarchy –inspiring our title “Don’t Give Up! Don’t Give In!.” Such expanded coalition could rise on the common purpose of fighting male dominance and ignore the differences of discourse created by the debate on identity. The gender-guided change and transformation desired in international politics could be achieved more easily in this way (Hemmings, 2012: 148, 155). On this account, in parallel with Enloe’s proposal of establishing a wider consensus simply on peace and co-existence (2017), a new era, in which questions of identity will, for some time, not be asked, may be dawning. A grand coalition of consensus has better chance of resisting the authoritarian leaders of hyper hegemonic masculinity. Our special issue of Gender and International Relations opens with a Turkish literature review with the aim of introducing the topic to Turkish readers. Çiçek Coşkun, against a historical background, presents some of the prominent feminist scholars who have left their footprints in this very masculine area with their fresh gender perspectives. In doing that she offers us a comparative framework in which works by the Turkish and international scholars could be assessed simultaneously. Nezahat Doğan’s article seeks to establish the relation between global peace and gender by using the data obtained from the Global Peace Index, Gender Inequality Index and Social Institutions and Gender Index. In this way, adopting a currently trendy approach, Doğan investigates the interaction between gender and International Relations through a quantitative method. Zehra Yılmaz’s article discusses the temporary position of Syrian women asylum seekers in Turkey from the perspective of the post-colonial feminist concept of subaltern. The article aims to combine feminist migration studies and post-colonial feminist literature within the context of International Relations. Sinem Bal’s article questions whether the EU has designed its gender policies as an aspect of the human-right norms of the European integration or as a way to regulate market economy. Bal pursues such questioning through the reading of the official documents of the EU that prescribes what Europeanization is for Turkey. Thus, all articles constitute a well-rounded understanding of what gendered approaches can achieve in the current practice of international studies. The co-authored article written by Bezen Balamir-Coşkun and Selin Akyüz examined how the images of women leaders in international politics were presented in the international media. The selected images the three most powerful women political leaders list of Forbes in 2017 –Angela Merkel, Theresa May and Federica Mogherini were analysed in the light of the political masculinities literature from a social visual semiotics perspective. It is believed that such an analysis will contribute to the debates about gendered aspect of international relations as well as the current debates on political masculinities. Gizem Bilgin-Aytaç points out that the global policy that emerged after the Cold War and the emergence of the new way of approaching the IR from a feminist perspective have improved the scope of conceptual analysis in peace theories as well. Bilgin-Aytaç discusses global peace conditions with a gender perspective - in particular, referring to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, with a focus on exemplary contemporary issues. Fulden İbrahimhakkıoğlu, in her article, discusses the debate between Ukraine-based feminist group FEMEN staged several protests in support of Amina Tyler, a Tunisian FEMEN activist receiving death threats for posting nude photographs of herself online with social messages written on her body and the Muslim Women Against FEMEN who released an open letter criticizing the discourse FEMEN used in these protests, which they found to be white colonialist and Islamophobic. Thus, İbrahimhakkıoğlu aimes to examines the discursive strategies put forth by the two sides of the very debate, and unveiling the shortcomings of liberalism as drawn on by both positions, the author attempts to rethink what “freedom” might mean for international feminist alliances across differences.

The notion of reparations encompasses debates about the relationship between individual and society, the nature of political community, the meaning of justice, and the impact of rights on social change. In international law, the dominant approach to reparations is based on individual rights. This normative framework is out of step with the understanding of reparations circulating among many women activists. I develop a theoretical approach to justice and reparations that helps to explain the gap between the international normative framework and activist discourses. Based on distributive, communitarian, and critical theories of justice, I argue that reparations can be thought of as rights, symbols, or processes. Understanding reparations as either rights or symbols is rife with problems when approached from an activist and feminist theoretical standpoint. As decisions about reparations programs are and should be determined by the political, social, economic, and cultural context, a blueprint for ‘a feminist reparations program’ is impractical and ill-advised. However, the strongest feminist approach to reparations would depart from an understanding of reparations as a process.La notion de réparations tient compte des relations entre l’individu et la société, de la nature du politique, de la signification de la justice et de l’incidence des droits dans le changement social. En droit international, l’idée dominante à cet égard est fondée sur les droits individuels. Ce cadre normatif est en décalage avec l’idée que de nombreuses militantes se font des réparations. J’ai élaboré une façon théorique de voir la justice et les réparations qui aide à expliquer l’écart entre le cadre normatif international et le discours militant. Selon cette approche fondée sur des théories distributives, communautaires et critiques de la justice, j’affirme que les réparations peuvent être vues comme des droits, des symboles ou des processus. D’un point de vue théorique militant ou féministe, le fait de considérer les réparations comme des droits ou des symboles s’accompagne de nombreux problèmes. Étant donné que les décisions au sujet des programmes de réparations sont et doivent être déterminés en fonction du contexte politique, social, économique et culturel, la conception d’un programme de réparations féministe est peu pratique et mal avisée. Toutefois, la meilleure approche féministe face aux réparations s’écarterait de la vision selon laquelle celles-ci constituent un processus.

Abstract This brief introduction elaborates on Marysia Zalewski's significant body of work over the past three decades, which provides not only ample evidence of the benefits of feminist modes of encountering world politics, but also a robust framework for enquiry for scholars of politics and international relations. Her work, while deeply rooted in feminist theories and practice, has implications which go far beyond disciplinary determinations and touch upon, as the symposium demonstrates, the empirics, and the impact of international politics writ large, from finance to terrorism to violence.

The article argues that feminist theory needs a concept of objectivity as part of its working epistemology. “Objectivity” is not, as has been argued by some contemporary feminists, inevitably a “dichotomist male epistemological construct,” leading to psychological distance and the hierarchies of “knower” and “known” that have victimized many groups in liberal society. The article analyzes Catherine MacKinnon's critique of “objectivity” as one of the most explicit, sophisticated and compelling theories demonstrating current feminist mistrust of “objectivity.” It finds that even MacKinnon uses “objectivity” in a one-dimensional manner, equating epistemological objectivity with political objectification.

AbstractMarysia Zalewski's Feminist International Relations: Exquisite Corpse on feminism and global politics directly addresses matters of style, that is, questions of language and representation that foreground the invisible yet so palpable aspect of how meanings circulate. This article puts Zalewski's work in conversation with Trinh Minh-ha's D-Passage: The Digital Way and Lynda Barry's What It Is that similarly push the limits of how we craft feminist arguments. These feminists show how styles of writing and thinking, and how ideas gain shape to circulate matter in academic sites of knowledge as much as in art and culture. Building on these works, I put forward the thesis: to theorise is to feel out boundaries and question the questions we encounter that perennially relegate women as taint and malaise. I further explore this thesis by highlighting the visual dimensions of writing and thinking, in particular, what drawing, and drawing lines that shape ideas do. I focus on caricatures from the currently evolving North Korean nuclear crisis to loosen up the ways we go about thinking about war and politics wherein thinking is recognised not so much as a craft to be perfected but a democratic form of being in the world.

A growing number of states including Canada, Norway and Sweden have adopted gender and feminist-informed approaches to their foreign and security policies. The overarching aim of this article is to advance a theoretical framework that can enable a thoroughgoing study of these developments. Through a feminist lens, we theorise feminist foreign policy arguing that it is, to all intents and purposes, ethical and argue that existing studies of ethical foreign policy and international conduct are by and large gender-blind. We draw upon feminist International Relations (IR) theory and the ethics of care to theorise feminist foreign policy and to advance an ethical framework that builds on a relational ontology, which embraces the stories and lived experiences of women and other marginalised groups at the receiving end of foreign policy conduct. By way of conclusion, the article highlights the novel features of the emergent framework and investigates in what ways it might be useful for future analyses of feminist foreign policy. Moreover, we discuss its potential to generate new forms of theoretical insight, empirical knowledge and policy relevance for the refinement of feminist foreign policy practice.

Abstract Fictional universes can be treated as discrete units of analysis in which we see the operation of international relations theory. This article discusses insights gleaned from a course created at Sonoma State University called “Gender and Geopolitics in Science Fiction and Fantasy,” in which feminist theory and international relations approaches are integrated, and science fiction and fantasy texts serve as the mechanism through which to examine the key themes and questions. This article provides an overview of the pedagogy to highlight the usefulness of speculative fiction in teaching. Each of the fictional universes is treated as a separate system where gender and political dynamics manifest in ways that observers of international relations will recognize. The core texts are Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Jessica Jones, Star Trek, Misfits, and Watchmen. The major theories and approaches explored here have implications for gender studies and feminist theory, the concepts of metaphor and allegory, and game theory.

Over the past twenty years, the so-called third debate, or the constructivist turn in international relations theory, has elic- ited a great deal of attention. Various critical theories and epistemologies-sociological approaches, postmodernism, constructivism, neo-Marxism, feminist approaches, and cul- tural theories-seem to dominate the leading international relations journals. Postmodernism (also called critical theo- ry), perhaps the most radical wave of the third debate, uses literary theory to challenge the notion of an "objective" reality in world politics, reject the notion of legitimate social science, and seek to overturn the so-called dominant dis- courses in the field in favor of a new politics that will give voice to previously marginalized groups.

Contemporary feminist scholars have devoted much attention to analyzing the relationship between justice and care theories but little to the ideas of early feminist authors. I bring the political philosophy of the Mary Wollstonecraft to bear on contemporary justice/care debates in order to highlight her unique contribution. Although usually interpreted as a classical liberal or republican thinker, Wollstonecraft is better understood as a feminist care theorist. She aimed at a revolutionary transformation of liberal society by emphasizing the importance of care-giving duties. Unlike some recent feminist scholars, however, she still recognized an important role for justice. She argued that before personal care-giving activities could transform the political, political justice had first to be extended to personal caring relationships. Wollstonecraft's political philosophy thus provides a feminist model for synthesizing justice and care theories and represents an innovative reformulation of classical liberal and republican ideas that incorporates the care perspective.

This article focuses on the phenomenon of Islamic feminism. It provides a detailed summary of the defining theories and objectives of the movement and its role in contributing to raising awareness and as an agent for change as well. It highlights the expanding boundaries of the phenomenon and the implications this has had on its content, orientation, and role in a world where globalization and Islamophobia are affecting the process of developing Islamic feminism. The article traces the factors that contributed to the rise of Islamic feminism and explores how these interacted to produce the phenomenon in the changing contexts. It analyses the inherent problems in the movement and its argument from a critical point of view. The article concludes by asking a number of questions that help in understanding the nature and the limitations of Islamic feminism, its role, social, religious, political and academic implications.

A recent call by some feminist conflict mediation practitioners proposes to rename power-sharing: either by prioritizing sharing over power or by replacing ‘power’ with the word ‘responsibility’. The purpose of these discursive reformulations is to move beyond just adding women to power-sharing institutions; instead, these proposals signal a desire to promote inclusion through a feminist emphasis on sharing in power-sharing systems above a masculinist emphasis on power. Inspired by these proposals and reflecting on the experiences of gender mediation experts, I work through critical feminist theories of intersectionality and feminist empowerment to show how power-sharing theory can be reimagined so that power is not just understood as coercive or as a finite resource that can only be divided between a limited number of privileged groups; rather, power can also be productive, as well as a central feature of all hierarchical relationships. I also explore how a feminist care ethic can offer alternative ways of conceiving of sharing in governance. My objective is to demonstrate how feminist approaches can provide a new language of both power and sharing to illuminate pathways through the ‘exclusion amid inclusion’ dilemma in power-sharing theory.

Much of contemporary feminist theory presents itself as radically opposed to liberalism. Certain claims made by Catharine MacKinnon have contributed significantly to this view. In this article, however, I argue that certain fundamental aspects of MacKinnon's work must be understood within a liberal framework, even as she challenges the epistemological assumptions that tend to inform liberal political theories. I highlight the ways in which MacKinnon makes use of several fundamental liberal tenets, such as the primacy of individual choice, and then consider how her work contributes to an ongoing discussion about the relevance of liberal theory to contemporary feminist concerns.

This article demonstrates how Netflix, the current leading SVOD provider, can be a plat­form of global cultural exchange, which not only provides entertainment, but also offers a critical reflection on international affairs to its subscribers. Despite the fact that most Netflix content is fic­tional, its distributed and produced films and TV series still portray various theoretical approaches of international relations. This claim is based on the premises of critical discourse, which see our reality in terms of the social context.The aim of the article is to reveal what principles of main international relations theories (name­ly realism, liberalism, feminism, constructivism, or other critical theories) can Netflix subscribers find in the selected TV series. Using a visual qualitative analysis as a research method, the authors study five TV series, specifically Traitors (UK), 1983 (PL), Nobel (NOR), Pine Gap (AU) and Homeland (US). These TV series were selected with regard to their diverse origins of production, the topic’s central focus being politics, security or international relations, and their high ratings and numbers of viewers.The analysis of each TV series is based on answering three questions, which are used in defining basic premises of the portrayed theories. The following questions are: What role does the state play as an actor in the international system? What is the dominant cultural identity of the society? What is the status of an individual in a country? Processes of forming opinions and building images of social reality are influenced by the context in which the individual acts. As such, cultural exchange can influence the evolution of contemporary media society and thus affect viewers who are indirectly led to critical reflection. The results indicate that the global cultural exchange through the medium of mass entertainment is still driven mainly by traditional theoretical premises.

International Relations has developed an exciting new research agenda on diplomatic practice, drawing largely on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu. However, it largely ignores Bourdieu’s theory of patriarchy, as well as extensive feminist Bourdieusian analysis. These are analytical tools that can be used to understand how diplomacy reproduces itself as a masculinized field. They are ‘practice theory’ as well and should be incorporated into our research on diplomatic practice. My aims here are to recover feminist practice theory for a diplomatic studies audience and to indicate how we can develop an interdisciplinary research agenda on gender and diplomacy. The first part of the article provides an overview of practice theory in diplomatic studies and discusses Bourdieu’s overlooked contributions regarding gender. I then use Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ of field, habitus and practice to examine diplomacy and gender using examples drawn from the literature, as well as from some primary sources. Throughout, I show how feminist sociologists have developed his ideas to create sophisticated approaches to studying the persistence of patriarchy. This does not capture all the ways in which diplomacy is gendered, but these tools reveal the limitations in our current understanding of diplomatic practices. I conclude with suggestions for future interdisciplinary research that takes gender seriously.

Anticipating the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, this article uses the triple axel jump, one of the most challenging moves in women’s figure skating, as a heuristic device to track representations of Japanese skaters Ito Midori and Asada Mao in the New York Times and Asahi Shimbun. Ito and Asada are two of only six women to have landed triple axels at international figure skating competitions. Employing affect and feminist theories, I argue that constructions of the skaters’ bodies are not just gendered and heteronormative, but also sexed, raced, and affective. Using discourse analysis, I trace how media representations of Ito and Asada redraw global color lines and national boundaries in sport and negotiate different femininities, underscoring excessive feelings and physical appearance. Contributing to feminist sport studies and transnational feminist cultural studies, this comparative analysis offers new perspectives on women’s sports in Japan and athleticism’s relation to race, femininities, and national identity.

Sport for development and peace (SDP) is a contemporary term for practices that have a long history, particularly in Canada’s provincial and territorial north, and especially with Aboriginal peoples for whom the region is home. Using a postcolonial international relations feminist approach, theories of global governance and private authority, and by exploring recent literature on self-determination in the context of Aboriginal peoples, we investigate 1) the assumptions at work in attempts to “transfer” SDP programming models in the Two-Thirds World to Aboriginal communities across Canada; 2) how the retreat of the welfare state and neo-liberal policies have produced the “need” for SDP in Aboriginal communities; and 3) how efforts toward Aboriginal self-determination can be made through SDP. We argue that, taken together, these concepts build a useful foundation better understanding for the historical and sociopolitical processes involved in deploying SDP interventions in Aboriginal communities.

To what extent, does sexual violence influence the likelihood of conflict management in intrastate conflicts? Despite a growing body of research that explores conflict-related sexual violence, the literature presents little insight on its effects on conflict resolution. Extending feminist international relations (IR) theory to intrastate conflicts and applying a gender lens to the power to hurt argument, I argue that when rebel sexual violence is public knowledge, the likelihood of conflict management increases because the state perceives it as a threat to its masculinity. I systematically test this argument on all intrastate conflict years from 1990 to 2009 using the Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict and the Civil War Mediation data set. The results provide robust support for the argument. This presents an important refinement of traditional rationalist conflict bargaining theories and opens new avenues for the research and practice of conflict management.

The article explores the relationship between emotions, collective identity and mobilisation in conservative social movements through an analysis of the World Congress of Families’ (WCF) 13th international conference, held in Verona in March 2019. WCF promotes Christian family values and brings together anti-gay, anti-feminist and anti-abortion activists, religious leaders, and politicians from around the world. We attended the congress and base our analysis on observations and theories on social movements and emotions. Both positive and negative emotions as well as symbols and metaphors were used as building blocks in the emotional work that holds this conservative movement together. In order to provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms we show how passive emotions are turned into active, how the differences between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are constructed, and how the combination of positive and negative emotions helps motivate action.

The article examines if and how gender diversity and queer are present in the policies guiding Finnish art education and how these documents might influence praxis. The authors explore relations between policy and practice through a close study and analysis of the Finnish national core curriculum for basic education as it relates to the broader Finnish culture of power and politics. The authors approach the topic using epistemic injustice as the framework, and suggest that current international and national policy and guidelines that define human rights, gender equality, the rights of gender and sexual minorities, and education have created a broad and deeply seated normative, binary mindset that not only impairs the actualization of equity in education but also makes it a paradox. To unpack the suggested epistemic injustice, the authors contextualize their arguments through a critical study of policies and guidelines for human rights and Finnish compulsory education and frame this with particular theories, the capability approach and feminist and critical pedagogy.

This article theorizes Waltz's ‘third image,’ international system structure, through feminist lenses. After briefly reviewing International Relations (IR) analysis of the relationship between anarchy, structure, and war, it introduces gender analysis in IR with a focus on its theorizing of war(s). From this work, it sketches an approach to theorizing international structure through gendered lenses and provides an initial plausibility case for the argument that the international system structure is gender-hierarchical, focusing on its influence on unit (state) function, the distribution of capabilities among units, and the political processes which consistently govern unit interaction. It outlines the implications of an account of the international system as gender-hierarchical for theorizing the causes of war generally and wars specifically, with a focus on potentially testable hypotheses. The article concludes with some ideas about the potential significance of a theorizing gender from a structural perspective and of theorizing structure from through gendered lenses.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.M. GandhiDomestic violence is associated with various contemporary legal and cultural issues: fundamental human rights, non-discrimination, hatred, feminist theories, Western roots of aggression etc. In this article, the protection from domestic violence is viewed in the light of national and international laws, of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as of certain criminological insights. The structure of the research is divided as follows: first, the substantive issues of domestic violence and the concept of such aggressive actions are investigated. To illustrate the relation between international, criminal, civil and social security law, a schematic interaction between the aforementioned substantive laws is introduced. Secondly, procedural issues are analyzed, certain good practice examples are presented and reflections on law-making are laid out.

This study explores the branding of gender equality in Iceland’s foreign policy. It also attempts to identify the methods used for branding, and the factors leading to the use of gender equality as a brand. The study builds on a broad theoretical base, drawing from small state theories, nation branding, and feminist international relations. The study builds on five in-depth interviews with current and former Foreign Service members in Iceland. Discourse analysis was employed to analyze the data, resulting in three main themes which are explored. These are; gender equality as a brand, methods of branding, and supply and demand. The study finds that branding is conducted sub-consciously, appearing as a rich emphasis on the field throughout the Icelandic Foreign Service, at home and abroad. A more targeted branding is also present when it comes to the engagement of men in the discussion of gender equality. Iceland employs three main methods of branding: Gender equality, agenda setting, and international cooperation. Supply and demand appears to be the main reason for Iceland to choose gender equality as a brand. Iceland has a lot to offer, has taken the lead on the issue and earned the attention of the international community for its efforts. This attention has encouraged the state to continue its work in the field. Nonetheless, the status and the purpose for which it is sought must be scrutinized.

Hannah Arendt's so-called nostalgia for the Greek polis stands at the core of most readings of her work, especially in debates between proponents of her concept of action as agonistic and interpreters of this concept as associational or communicative. Many feminist theorists, participatory democrats, and liberals share an aversion to Arendt's philhellenism and criticize her machismo, her apparent neglect of Athenian injustice, and her “republicanism,” with its potential for endangering individual autonomy. Similarly, Arendt's emphasis on the political relevance of stories and her self-acknowledged storytelling have also given rise to extensive interpretations. Arendt scholars, in line with many contemporary political theorists, reject the totalizing and universalizing power of theory and argue that human plurality is better expressed in stories than in abstract homogeneous theory. According to them, by exemplifying or illuminating general intuitions and propositions, storytelling concretizes the understanding of politics. They suggest that stories allow the political thinker to be critical and situated. Moreover, stories take into account forgotten parts of history, or forgotten parts of the political sphere, often denied in theories that cannot accept difference and contingency.

This article offers a comprehensive, research-informed reflection on the contents of the Special Double Issue of Scene, ‘Performance and Ireland’, conceptualized within a sense of looped temporalities (now, then, now), a concept borrowed from Irish multidisciplinary performance company, ANU Productions. From the perspectives of performance studies and visual culture, we connect and contextualize for an international readership articles concerning such topics as: Ireland’s colonial history; race, ethnicity and racism in relation to Ireland; performing the Irish diaspora; feminist activism; performing LGBTQ+ identities; the Troubles and the border in Northern Ireland; Ireland as a global brand; the Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA); and artistic engagements with hidden histories. This introductory article provides an overview of the discourses on performance studies and Ireland to date, and draws on theories of performance as they intersect with Irish studies, postcolonialism, commemoration and gender and sexuality, to situate the volume within pertinent contemporary and historical contexts from the Irish Famine (1845–49) to Covid-19. ‘Performing Ireland’ in the context of the current pandemic is considered specifically towards the end of the article.

The European Union has faced several crises in the past decades, including the economic and financial crisis, Brexit, a migration, climate change and security crisis, and the latest COVID-19 crisis. In this context, feminist scholars have shown how the causes and effects of the economic and financial crisis are strongly gendered. Generally, this literature suggests that crises can open a window of opportunity for gender considerations but may also promote policies which exacerbate gendered inequalities. Yet, the impact of crises on the attention to gender equality in European Union’s external relations is still unknown. This is surprising, as the European Union has promised to mainstream gender in all external policies, and understands itself to be a normative power and gender actor in world politics. This Special Issue analyses how the European Union’s identification of crisis and its policy responses to crisis in different external policy fields are gendered. The introduction situates the Special Issue within existing scholarship, theorises the central concepts of this Special Issue – crisis, gender (equality) and the European Union identities – and highlights how the different contributions advance our understanding of how gender figures in European Union’s external relations in past, current and future times of crisis.

The concept of power is not a new phenomenon, so the intellectual origin of this concept can also be found among the ancient philosophers. However, the reconsideration of this concept within the International relations and Security studies started 60-70 years ago. The representatives of the realistic theoretical approach were mostly those who dealt with the concept of power of the state, as well as representatives of other theoretical approaches (e.g. liberalism, social constructivism, critical theories, feminist approaches, etc.). But, despite the great interest in this concept, consensus exists only on two key issues related to power of the state. First, in the terms of importance everyone agrees that the power of the state is one of the key concepts, and second, in the terms of complexity. Therefore, no one should be surprised by the pluralism of viewpoints regarding the concept. Those viewpoints could be reduced on three prevailing comprehensions of power of the state: power as control over resources, power as control over actors and power as control over events and outcomes. All these prevailing comprehensions have its own advantages and disadvantages. The aim of this paper was to present the views of relevant scholars (through the theoretical discussion not only by the realists), and to offer an adequate overview of the advantages and disadvantages of each of these comprehensions. Such a review of literature could certainly be useful for researchers in the case of selecting an adequate comprehension of power of the state for their particular specific research. The researcher should make this kind of decision based on a particular school of thought that he/she prefers, his/her personal affinities, but primarily based on the object and purpose of his/her research. The conclusion of the paper could be reduced to the notion that the concept of power of the state is far beyond the scope of realistic theoretical approach, and that it represents a key concept (and according to some scholars it is the most important concept in the IR), as well as that each of these prevailing comprehensions of power of the state has its own place in the theoretical conceptual apparatus of International relations and Security studies.

In this paper, the author critically analyses Michel Houellebecq’s novel Soumission (Flammarion, 2017). The analysis uses post-structural theories of discourse, gender, and post-colonialism. The author argues that the novel employs neo-orientalist modes of identification where abjection is a fundamental theme. A neo-orientalist mode of identification refers to how knowledge about Muslims as an abject other is produced through various discursive techniques of differentiation, and how this performative practice is articulated through contingent conceptions of race, religion, and gender. Abjection refers to a symbolic castration, namely the central theme of how Western masculinity and European civilization has been de-masculinized by social democracy, liberalism, globalization, and feminism. Finally, the analysis of the novel is contrasted and compared with Houellebecq’s earlier writings.

One main issue found in gender research studies on public relations is the small number of women who hold a leadership role. However, this fact does not only apply to the public relations inudstry, but almost all industries. The purpose of this article is to analyze the prblem within the recruitment process of PR practitioners from the point of view of the senior practitioners. In order to achieve this, focus group discussions were conducted with senior PR practitioners who are members of a PR professional association. Data gatheredwere analyzed from the perspective of feminist theories and The Velvet Ghetto. Based on the discussions, two conclusions were made. First, That the public relations profession is an ‘open profession’, which means that it should be open for, a) men and women, b) all ages, c) all backgrounds and disciplines. Second, that statistically and universally, a) PR education appears to be more attractive to women compared to men, b) overall, there are more female PR practitioners than males, however, c) at the senior, top management positions in large companies, beit national or international, male practitioners are dominant. The researcher concludes that there needs to be an attempt to increase the status of the PR profession in the society, and strive to achieve gender equity in reaching top management. The researcher suggests for colaborations to be held between three parties, namely: Higher education institutions, professional associations, and industries. Such colaborations can be in the form of mentorships between a beginner and a manager; career counselling; and workshops. Companies are also advised to establish policies, e.g. flextime, and offer facilities, e.g., daycares, that would enable women to pursue a career. Salah satu pokok permasalahan yang ditemukan dalam studi gender humas adalah sedikitnya perempuan yang memegang peran kepemimpinan. Namun, fakta ini tidak semata-mata terjadi di industri humas, melainkan di hampir semua industri.Tujuan dari artikel ini adalah untuk menganalisa permasalahan yang ada pada proses perekrutan praktisi hubungan masyarakat (humas) dalam sudut pandang praktisi senior. Untuk mencapai tujuan ini maka diadakan diskusi kelompok terarah dengan praktisi senior humas yang tergabung dalam sebuah asosiai profesi humas sebagai peserta. Data yang diperoleh dianalisa dari sudut pandang teori feminis dan velvet ghetto. Berdasarkan diskusi tersebut dapat diambil dua kesimpulan. Pertama, Bahwa profesi humas adalah ‘profesi terbuka’, yang berarti, a) baik pria dan perempuan, b) tanpa batasan usia, c) dari latar belakang dan disiplin apapun, tidak hanya komunikasi yang bisa memasuki profesi humas. Kedua, Bahwa secara statistik dan secara universal a) pendidikan humas lebih banyak memikat perempuan daripada laki-laki, b) perempuan praktisi humas jumlahnya melebihi praktisi pria, tetapi c) posisi-posisi senior, pada posisi top pada perusahaan-perusahaan besar, baik itu nasional atau internasional, didominasi oleh praktisi pria. Penulis menyimpulkan bahwa perlu adanya upaya untuk meningkatkan derajat profesi humas di mata masyarakat, dan juga mengupayakan agar adanya keseteraan gender dalam meniti karir humas sampai ke tingkat top management. Penulis mengusulkan adanya kerjasama antara tiga pihak yaitu instansi pendidikan tinggi, asosiasi profesi, dan industri. Kerjasama tersebut dapat berupa mentorship antara praktisi pemula dengan praktisi manager; konseling karir; dan loka karya. Perusahaan juga dihimbau untuk memberlakukan kebijakan yang memudahkan perempuan untuk berkarir, seperti flextime dan pengadaan penitipan anak (daycare).

Abstract Women of color have long used the transformative power of writing and theorizing through their bodies to speak back to the pervasive racist and sexist hierarchies in hegemonic cultures. I extend this argument in the specific context of Muslim feminism that is theorized outside orientalist and patriarchal frames of reference. In this article, I turn to a performative autoethnographic approach to look at the Moroccan era, ‘Now and Then,’ through my grandmother’s lens, that of a Moroccan woman erased from the written history of Morocco. Drawing on ‘theories of the flesh,’ I privilege my grandmother’s voice and her embodied experience that transmits her story of resistance and survival under French colonization. Through ‘fleshing,’ my Moroccan grandmother reclaims her lived experiences and deconstructs the hegemonic universalist knowledge of feminism and struggle. It is important to foreground the political urgency of surveying the theoretical frameworks of Arab and Muslim scholars in order to create new ways of understanding communication in postcolonial/neocolonial settings.

This book's primary theoretical targets are methodological problems and political biases in China studies, and it uses scholarly and administrative discourses about female prostitution in order to illustrate the field's shortcomings. As befits its embrace of the text-based “new humanities,” its sources are scholarly debates, police and government reports, and secondary sources rather than ethnographic fieldwork.Jeffreys argues that China studies suffers from several problems. First, it has methodological deficiencies: China studies is dominated by scholars who wrongly claim to have access to the “truth” about China because of their linguistic skills; as “nation-translators” they produce positivist, realist, empiricist works disconnected from the theoretically-oriented “new humanities.” Moreover, scholars who do attempt to apply postmodern or postcolonial theories to China engage it as an object that can illustrate their theories, never as a subject that can generate theory. In short, Anglophone authors privilege the metropolitan discourse and ignore what Chinese people have to say. Secondly, the field suffers from political biases: China Studies is still mired in a Cold War ideological framework in which scholars accept the word of the CCP only “to turn it back on the CCP … to show how and where the CCP and Chinese Marxism have failed” (p. 41). Their analytical reliance on the state/civil society dichotomy emphasizes the power of the state over and above society, with the implication that only non-state actors can speak truthfully. This “preclude[s] the possibility that there might be anything positive or productive about the operation of power in China” (p. 41). Jeffreys advocates replacing the state/civil society dichotomy with the Foucauldian notion of “governmentality,” which forces one to examine the complex historical background and administrative networks in which government officials are enmeshed, and which creates the limits of the possible for them. Lastly, she argues that international NGOs and metropolitan feminists are fundamentally misguided when they push the Chinese government to recognize the validity of sex work because they have no idea what the actual ramifications of this would be in the Chinese context. Such a policy would, unlike the commonsense efforts of the Chinese police, make life worse, not better, for prostitutes.

El texto representa un análisis de los conceptos “soberanía” y “estado-nación” a través de las diferentes corrientes teóricas feministas dentro del campo de Relaciones Internacionales. Como objetivo principal se destaca la necesidad de deconstruir conceptos desde diferentes perspectivas teóricas, especialmente aquellos conceptos altamente masculinizados que han sido construidos históricamente desde una lógica androcéntrica. Desde la teoría crítica se plantea la necesidad de cuestionar el poder tanto de las estructuras como de los conceptos que rigen la organización societal. Finalmente, se expone varias corrientes feministas con el fin de enfatizar en la diversidad teórica dentro de esta rama y entender a los feminismos desde su inherente pluralidad.