Concepts in IR Flashcards
(240 cards)
What theory does Gender essentialism correspond to?
Feminism
What does Gender essentialism entail?
The belief in inherent traits based on biological sex, e.g., men as violent, women as caring.
Essentialist views can lead to dangerous oversights in war contexts.
What theory does the informal economy and domestic labour correspond to?
Feminism
What does the informal economy and domestic labour entail?
The informal economy is one that is not taxed and is unregulated. Jobs like dog walking, babysitting and cleaning services could be informal.
Domestic labour is work done in the home without pay or other typical securities of employment.
What does the sexual division of labour entail?
Historical shifts in employment roles for men and women; jobs are socially redefined as “feminine” or “masculine.”
Economic roles reflect societal power imbalances rather than inherent capacities.
What theory does Gender essentialism correspond to?
Feminism
What does Gender essentialism entail?
The belief in inherent traits based on biological sex, e.g., men as violent, women as caring.
Essentialist views can lead to dangerous oversights in war contexts.
What theory does the informal economy and domestic labour correspond to?
Feminism
What does the informal economy and domestic labour entail?
The informal economy is one that is not taxed and is unregulated. Jobs like dog walking, babysitting and cleaning services could be informal.
Domestic labour is work done in the home without pay or other typical securities of employment.
What theory does the sexual division of labour correspond to?
Feminism
What is the impact of globalisation according to feminists?
Global interconnectedness has led to job insecurity, particularly affecting male workers, while increasing female participation in low-paid jobs.
Gender dynamics in globalization are complex, involving empowerment and vulnerability.
What do reproductive and productive economies entail?
Reproductive economy encompasses unpaid domestic and care work essential for the productive economy.
Women’s unpaid labor is often unrecognized, leading to a double burden of paid and unpaid work.
What theory do reproductive and productive economies correspond to?
Feminism
What do Economic power dynamics signify to a feminist?
Women, particularly in the Global North, exert more economic influence than before, but disparities persist.
Recognizing both visible and invisible inequalities in economic roles emphasizes the importance of gender perspectives in economic analysis.
What are the main perspectives of feminism in IR?
Liberal Feminism, Critical Feminist, Post colonial feminist, poststructuralist feminist, constructivist feminist.
What are the main tenants of Liberal Feminist IR?
Focus: Advocates for extending rights and representation traditionally granted to men to women.
Goals: Aims to increase women’s representation in governance and change laws to enhance women’s participation.
Key Argument: Gender inequality is a barrier to human development and contributes to violence and conflict. Scholars like Hudson et al. argue that higher gender inequality correlates with increased violence.
What are the main tenants of Critical Feminist IR?
Focus: Challenges liberal feminists for assuming neutrality and for viewing power as something to be redistributed without fundamental societal change.
Emphasis: Highlights the interplay between gender and class oppression, drawing on Marxist theories. It critiques capitalism and the global economic structures that perpetuate inequalities.
What are the main tenants of Post colonial Feminist IR?
Focus: Links local gendered experiences to broader global structures of capitalism and colonialism.
Argument: Highlights how colonialism shaped gender roles and continues to affect women differently based on race and geography.
Critique: Challenges the universalizing tendencies of feminist theories from the Global North, emphasizing the need to recognize diverse women’s experiences and resist paternalistic notions of saving women.
What are the main tenants of Poststructuralist Feminist IR?
Focus: Draws from Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity, arguing that gender is a constructed identity shaped by cultural norms rather than a fixed biological attribute.
Key Ideas: Emphasizes how language and discourse shape gendered identities and experiences. Scholars analyze how international politics constructs and regulates gender.
Impact: Reveals the power dynamics in gender constructions, as seen in works discussing UN resolutions and the implications of language in international relations.
What are the main tenants of Constructivist Feminist IR?
Constructivist are idealists. They see ideas as either causes (positivist) or focus on language (post positivist)
Constructivist Feminist focus on how global politics shape ideas around gender
Elisabeth pruegel uses linguistic approaches to analyse the treatment of of domestic labour and the ideas of femininity that justify the lack of wages and security afforded do women show work in the domestic sphere
It is often the common perception that domestic labour is not real labour, rather it is a completely private affair
She sees gender as gender as an institution that codifies power at every level of global politics
What side did feminists align themselves with in the third grand debate?
The third grand debate in IR started in the 1980s between the established materialist, positivist and rationalist forces and postpositivist scholars who favoured theories such as Constructivism, poststructuralism and postmodernism. Many Feminist joined these scholars as they share their commitment to to examining the relationship between power and knowledge
They point out that men created most knowledge and that most knowledge is about men
What is the social construction of reality and what theory does it correspond to?
Social construction is the creation of a subject or object, imbued with social values, norms and assumptions rather than being the creation of an individual.
Constructivist argue there isn’t one reality, but many contexts and that language and norms are relevant to international relations
How is power defined under constructivism?
Power is the capacity to alter norms
How are actors defined by constructivism?
Actors are actors by virtue of recognition