ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that women should seek to become conscious of their own assumptions about State sovereignty, to understand its potential as a strategy of empowerment. It examines the ways in which State sovereignty sets the functional and allegorical parameters of international law. The chapter explains a series of gendered perspectives on State sovereignty. It outlines three aspects of State sovereignty: statism, the centrality of the State to international law-making, and the State as a bounded, unified self. Feminist approaches to international law may be understood as seeking to personalize and personify its normative constructs. The chapter discusses the relationship between the State and the individual, that is, the public/private distinction. The policy-oriented perspective on international law pioneered by Myres McDougal and Harold Lasswell draws our attention to the wide range of actors on the world stage and the diverse ways in which they interact.
