Gender and International Relations: An Introduction

By Jill Steans

Book Overview

Until relatively recently, little had been written about gender issues in international relations despite the increased importance of the study of gender in other areas of the social sciences. Gender and International Relations fills that gap, providing a clear and accessible guide to the study of gender issues, feminist theories, and international relations. Steans illustrates how gender is central to nationalisms and political identity, the state, citizenship and conceptions of political community, security, and global political economy and development. Drawing on feminist scholarship from across the social sciences, she demonstrates the uses of feminism as critique. She also introduces readers to contemporary theoretical debates in international relations using concrete concerns and easily understandable issues to ground the discussion.

The book does not construct a single feminist theory of international relations nor does it advance a particular perspective of how gender can best be understood in an international or global context. Rather, the book argues that feminist theories have collectively produced insights crucial to the study of international relations and that these insights can be used to challenge conventional approaches to the discipline.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813525136
• ISBN13: 9780813525136
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

EXCELLENT INTRO TO FEMINISM AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

This was the major source text for my MA dissertation, "Cooperative Conflict Resolution and the Role of Gender in International Relations." Steans describes the major points of several strains of feminism with transparency. She integrates the various theories with International Relations theory. The most interesting topic, for me, was the role of gender in security issues. Do "masculine" approaches to conflict keep the vicious cirles going? One of the most ENJOYABLE textbooks I have read!