ABSTRACT

Saddam Hussein is thumbing his nose at the United States, and according to the Economist, the United States is going through a period of feminization. An impressive array of feminist scholars in international relations (IR) and related fields have searched for ways to explain gender hierarchies and assumptions in the theory and practice of international relations. Liberal feminists, finding few women in the field of IR or the business of running states and militaries, have searched for statistics and arguments to convince sympathetic male colleagues that women can and should play an important role in the male world of international relations. Radical feminists have emphasized the interconnection between private and public spheres in international politics and the need to connect the politics of daily life with larger political events and power structures. Coding a particular form of masculinity as feminine or womanlike is still the best way to undermine its authority and power.