Gender and Critical Geopolitics; Reading Security Discourse in the New World Disorder

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 595-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Dalby
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Critical Geopolitics ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
And Gender ◽  
New Generation

In the early 1990s a new generation of scholars has tackled matters of feminist perspectives on war, peace, and specifically the academic discipline of international relations. A similar confrontation between traditional scholarly themes and gender-sensitive analyses within critical geopolitics is now obviously necessary. Although authors such as Cynthia Enloc have written about global politics and the role of women in international relations in ways that are sensitive to the geographic dimension, many theoretical and practical implications of a gender-sensitive approach to geopolitics remain to be worked out. In this paper I argue that, among other issues, investigating the gendered assumptions in the study of international relations and foreign policy-making, in addition to more explicitly geopolitical reasoning, shows how political spatialisations render women vulnerable. In addition, examining the implications of militarised definitions of (territorial) citizenship, the use of masculinist notions of power, space, and security, and the representation of women in global conflicts, sheds light on the ‘taken-for-granted’ spatial aspects of the routine operation of power. By enlarging the scope of critical geopolitical analysis, greater attention to gender issues enhances the explanatory power of ‘big picture’ political geography, not least by focusing on the practical everyday implications of geopolitics for those who are so often written out of its scripts.

Women and Security - Contemporary Approaches And Issues

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-20
Author(s):  
Liliana Popescu
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
State Security ◽  
Is Security ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Istanbul Convention

The article discusses the contrasts between the traditional conception of security and feminist viewpoints on the issue. It presents the traditional realist viewpoint on security and discusses the representation of women in state security structures as well as their representation in international organizations. It briefly presents feminist criticisms of liberal origin concerning the lack of equal participation and representation in these power structures that affect everyone regardless of gender. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the discussion of the important issues raised by feminist perspectives on security and the specificity of feminist security studies. The widening of the security studies area is portrayed, as present in these writings: the overvaluation of the importance of state structures, in which women are underrepresented; the importance of expanding ‘security from the area of the state and applying it to communities; the decentering of dominant modes of knowledge (the “normal”); the inclusion of femininities, masculinities, and gender is security analyses; the importance of issues like #metoo international movement and the withdrawal of states in our region, East, South East and Central Europe, from the Istanbul Convention. The article concludes by asserting the importance of enhancing women solidarity in this region, including here the development of feminist security studies by applying it to common transborder issues.

scholarly journals Platonic metaphysics and the ontology of international relations: a sketch

2021 ◽  
pp. 004711782110214
Author(s):  
King-Ho Leung
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
World Order ◽  
Social World ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Individual

This article offers a reading of Plato in light of the recent debates concerning the unique ‘ontology’ of International Relations (IR) as an academic discipline. In particular, this article suggests that Plato’s metaphysical account of the integral connection between human individual, the domestic state and world order can offer IR an alternative outlook to the ‘political scientific’ schema of ‘levels of analysis’. This article argues that Plato’s metaphysical conception of world order can not only provide IR theory with a way to re-imagine the relation between the human, the state and world order. Moreover, Plato’s outlook can highlight or even call into question the post-metaphysical presuppositions of contemporary IR theory in its ‘borrowed ontology’ from modern social science, which can in turn facilitate IR’s re-interpretation of its own ‘ontology’ as well as its distinct contributions to the understanding of the various aspects of the social world and human life.

International Relations Studies in China

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianwei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Intellectual Community ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
Western Intellectual

This article traces the evolution of international relations studies as an academic discipline in China in the last two decades or so. Almost non-existent before the 1980s, IR studies has become an increasingly dynamic, sophisticated, and popular field of social science in both teaching and research. This is reflected in the growth of institutions, degree programs, scholarship and paradigmatic debate as well as interaction with the Western intellectual community in both theory and personnel. Nevertheless, the development of IR studies in China is still in its primitive stage and it must contend with various problems such as political control, a lack of well-trained scholars, inadequate funding, and ideational uncertainty.

The Ambivalent Relationship of Japan's Soft Power Diplomacy andPrincess Mononoke: Tosaka Jun's philosophy of culture as moral reflection

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
KOSUKE SHIMIZU
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Moral Reflection ◽  
The West ◽  
Soft Power Diplomacy

AbstractCulture is a demanding word, particularly when it is used in the context of the contemporary academic discipline of international relations (IR). It is often employed in order to distinguish one identity from another, allegedly illuminating idiosyncrasies embedded in a particular society or group of people. The essentialized understanding of culture is also detectable in the case of the current debate on the non-Western international relations theories (IRT). Non-Western politicians and scholars often employ the term culture in order to distinguish their values from alleged Western values. However, culture has another important function mainly advanced by a left-wing Kyoto School philosopher Tosaka Jun, that is, culture as a mirror for critical reflection for morality (Tosaka, 1966). This article is based on Tosaka's argument that culture has an important function for moral reflection beyond that of a mere means to identify one's distinctiveness from the West, and it criticizes Japan's soft power diplomacy or the total absence of it from that point of view. It also argues that this absence is the result of the soft power discourse's over-simplified interpretation of culture that results in confrontation between the West and the rest, particularly when it is employed in non-Western IRT discourses. Towards the end, I examine Miyazaki Hayao's films,Princes Mononokein particular, as examples of cultural works facilitating a moment of critical reflection, and I extract embedded messages of relevance to critical reflection on contemporary IR literature, particularly non-Western literature.

From Unity to Divergence and Back Again: Security and Economy in Feminist International Relations

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 408-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Sjoberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
International Security ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Peace Studies ◽  
Ecological Security ◽  
Global Security ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Feminist Perspectives

InGender and International Security: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security, J. Ann Tickner (1992) identified three main dimensions to “achieving global security”—national security, economic security, and ecological security: conflict, economics, and the environment. Much of the work in feminist peace studies that inspired early feminist International Relations (IR) work (e.g., Brock-Utne 1989; Reardon 1985) and many of Tickner's contemporaries (e.g., Enloe 1989; Peterson and Runyan 1991; Pettman 1996) also saw political economy and a feminist conception of security as intrinsically interlinked. Yet, as feminist IR research evolved in the early 21st century, more scholars were thinking either about political economy or about war and political violence, but not both.

scholarly journals Virginia Woolf’s Representation of Women: A Feminist Reading of “The Legacy”

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Hussien AlGweirien
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Intellectual Ability ◽  
Male Dominance ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Women's Identity ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

Over the centuries women have been struggling to gain recognition, calling their independent voice to be heard in patriarchal and racist societies. As they follow the standards and the values of their societies, women tend to break the stereotypical and submissive images that degrade their position in their societies. Thus, this paper will scrutinize thoroughly women’s intellectual ability from a Gynocriticism perspective taking Virginia Woolf’s short story “The Legacy” (published posthously in 1944) as an example. The present paper provides an analytical view of the four models of gynocriticism; i.e., biological, linguistic, cultural, and psychological. It also attempts to shed light on some common feminist themes such as the theme of marriage and how oppressed marriage motivates male dominance. The paper addresses the relationship between wife and husband in terms of gender inequality and women’s identity. It also tackles women’s trapped position as distinct from the liberty of men and oppressed by husband in an unhappy marriage. It relies heavily not only on feminist perspectives as gynocriticism, gender inequality, and the theme of marriage; but also on the authors’ personal life. The paper concludes that being unable to speak their voice freely, women view writing as their salvation for their voice to be heard.

scholarly journals THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN’S POLITICAL REPRESENTATION: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE IN FORMAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN TURKEY FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

2021 ◽  
pp. 118-129
Author(s):  
Ayşe GÖNÜLLÜ ATAKAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Women And Gender Studies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Developed Countries

Today, the necessity of addressing development not only with its economic dimension but also with its social and environmental dimensions has been accepted by the international community. Alternative Women and Development approaches that emerged in the 1970s also emphasized that the idea of development without women would not be possible, and that the main development is possible with the empowerment of women as important actors of development. It is a dominant view that is agreed in the literature on women and gender studies that one of the most important tools for achieving empowerment, which is conceptualized as “gaining the ability of women to make strategic life choices”, is their participation in decision-making mechanisms. In this context, it is vital for women to participate in formal politics with their own perspective in order to solve their own problems based on their own gendered experiences. In this study, inadequate political representation of women in Turkey, as a candidate to be among the developed countries, is discussed from a gender perspective in terms of reasons, results and solutions. Keywords: Political participation, gender, women and development, empowerment.

Psychology Reconstructs The Female: 1968–1988

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Crawford ◽  
Jeanne Marecek
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
High Achievement ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
Fear Of Success ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
Normative Practices ◽  
And Gender

Recent work on the psychology of gender is pluralistic, stemming from varied specialty areas within psychology, grounded in several intellectual frameworks, and reflecting a spectrum of feminist perspectives. This article is a critical appraisal of diverse approaches to the study of women and gender. It first describes prefeminist or “womanless” psychology, then analyzes four co-existing frameworks that have generated recent research. The four frameworks are: Exceptional Women, in which empirical research focuses on the correlates of high achievement for women, and women's history in the discipline is re-evaluated; Women as Problem (or Anomaly), in which research emphasizes explanations for female “deficiencies” (e.g., fear of success); the Psychology of Gender, in which the focus of inquiry shifts from women to gender, conceived as a principle of social organization that structures relations between women and men; and a (currently relatively undeveloped) Transformation framework that reflexively challenges the values, assumptions, and normative practices of the discipline. Examples of research programs within each approach are described, and the strengths and limitations of each approach are critically examined.

White Man’s IR: An Intellectual Confession

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1112-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Lake
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
White Male ◽  
Professional Practices ◽  
Good Work ◽  
The World

Drawing largely on my own career in academia, I elaborate on the need for greater gender, racial and other forms of diversity in International Relations. Although theories are thought to be “objective,” what goes into those theories and, in turn, their explanatory power is ultimately shaped by subjective, lived experiences. Different individuals with different life stories will develop different intuitions about how the world “works,” and thus will write different theories to capture those intuitions and, in turn, larger patterns of politics. I explain here how my life experience as a privileged white male has shaped the intellectual contours of my work on international hierarchy. Building from this foundation, I then explore how professional practices elevate as gatekeepers individuals with generally similar life experiences and, thus, intuitions about what constitutes “good” work in the field, which in turn reinforces those professional practices and priorities. The final section focuses on problems of eroding the disciplinary hierarchy and broadening the pipeline into the profession.

Nature, Nation, Science and Gender

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 334-347
Author(s):  
Gita Chadha
Keyword(s):  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Mother Goddess ◽  
Indian Scientist ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The article explores the equation among nature, nation and gender in the nationalist context. Developing the argument that both nature and nation were feminised and deified as mother and mother goddess in the nationalist context, the article deploys feminist perspectives to critically examine this on a fourth-axis science. By looking at the relationship of the scientist, J. C. Bose, to these categories, the article hopes to unravel the complex relationship of the Indian scientist to nation, nature, gender and science. It is argued that due to being a ‘Sakta’, Bose had a symbiotic relationship to nature, and consequently to science, thereby presenting an ‘alternative’ to Western modes of relating to science and nature. The article submits that this alternative was cast in patriarchal constructions of both science and nature and views the associations of mother with nation and nature within larger feminist critiques of science. The article submits that while these sleeping metaphors set an alternative paradigm to the Western modes of relating to nature through science, they reproduced patriarchal constructions of the same. The article is an effort at grafting feminist perspectives on (a) science and (b) nationalism with postcolonial perspectives on science and modernity.

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