Constructivism
- norms & identities intersubjectively (socially) determined
- Wendt: anarchy = conflict (Hobbes)
- agency & structure are co-determined (mutually shape each other)
- Neorealism: anarchic structure shapes agency
- Liberals/Neoliberals: agents can gradually shape structure
- Constuctivist: structurationism (Wendt: agency & structure co-determined)
- structure = material distribution of capabilities (world capit. econ.) + normative variables
- state sovereignty
- norm, not material
- leads to anarchy
- socially determined/constructed
- governance, non-interference
- norms are independent variables
- Finnemore & Sikkink
- “norm entrepreneurs”
- idea platforms
Feminism
- as an understanding of IR
- range of theories
- gender relations integral to IR
- explores how our understanding of IR is “gendered”
- 1st gen fem. scholars challenged trad. epistemological & ontological focus of intl relations
- (meaning positivism)
- questioned state-centric positivist/exclusionary nature of discipline
- tries to deconstruct/subvert realism (dominant image of IR)
- 2d gen scholars
- tried to make gender as central analytical category to IR
- often, gender identities treated as natural, not constituted
- study of IR based on hegemonic western conception of masculinity
- key concepts:
- autonomy v. networks
- atomistic/individualist
- sovereignty v. dependence
- objectivity v. emotions & values
- autonomy v. networks
- first challenges to IR
- gender is ignored variable in IR
- study of IR has excluded womens lives/experiences, fem. scholars marginalized
- women absent from IR theory
- resultant study is from male perspective, research reflects this
- IR focuses upon anarchy/conflict/competition/fears & rivalries
- domestic politics ignored
- how state system is perpetuated
- relations of production, not reproduction
- Johann Galtung
- structural violence gives way to direct violence
- inequitable structures leading to needs not being met
- policymakers predominantly male
- women not generally part of IR policy community
- women have been significant non-state actors on intl stage
- land mines
- peace
- nuclear disarmament
- rape as war crime
- gendered assumptions about:
- rationality
- national interests
- women are used to promote:
- services for militarization
- gendered construction of IO’s
- often dominated by elite men
- org priorities reflect construction
- ex: global econ. growth v. human devel./social well-being
- tries to mainstream gender discussions
- women in UN ghettoized
- theories must recognize women as important players
- research becomes sensitive to gender issues
- empirical studies claimed to ignore women/gender rels.
- 70s/80s:
- men’s labor for cash crops in ag.
- women’s labor for subsistence
- globalization increased gender inequalities
- income, work hours, etc.
- SAP’s shifts goals from social welfare to export earnings, finance
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