Essay on "Respect to Any One Approach to IR"

Essay 8 pages (2418 words) Sources: 12

[EXCERPT] . . . .

respect to any ONE approach to IR you choose, explain how theoretical debates within a particular theory help us to define more precisely how best to use IR theory in practice.

International relations -- Feminist theory

Globalization, market liberalization and the technological revolution have all contributed significantly to the advancement of the societies across the world. People now use the most developed appliances and technologies; they are interconnected and highly informed.

Within the business community, they are cherished as valuable organizational assets; they are presented with opportunities for career development and they are motivated and rewarded. As customers, people are presented with a wide selection of products and services from which to choose those that best respond to their needs and demands. Additionally, the customers of today are no longer just the force purchasing the items produced by manufacturers, but they represent the force that tells the manufacturers what to produce.

All in all then, the modern day society is extremely evolved and enjoys a wide array of developments. Still, in this setting, a historic issue arises -- the equality of genders. Women across the globe continue to be discriminated against. In the least developed countries, such as those in the Middle East, women are forced into arranged marriages; they are often abused by their husbands and other males in their family; they are prohibited from getting divorced or from social interaction outside the supervision of the husband or the father (Islam Women). In the western states however, while these forms of discrimination are uncommon, others are however present. Women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts; the raising of the children and the household chores remain primarily the responsibility of women and the presence of women in political and executive positions remains decreased (Helsinki, 1997).

In this setting then, the theoretical emphasis on the equality of genders remains increased, and it represents the focal point of various academic stances, the most important of them being the feminist theory.

The feminist theory is generically understood as the effort aimed at understanding the inequality between genders. This inequality is present in a multitude of fields, including social life, family life, arts, business and so on and the scope of the feminist theory is to assess it through various stances.

The place of feminist theory in international relations is often challenged, as it would represent a single issue, impacting a specific category of the population, without any immediately perceived impact on the overall state of the economy, the politics or the world. Nevertheless, feminist theory is recurrent in international relations, and this is created and obvious in various instances.

"Transparently dismissive of feminism as a complex specialist field with depth beyond analysis of individual women, it presumes the formulaic and simple. As ignorance bears down, however, circling into lagers and setting teeth and a trou-de-loup for feminists, I keep seeing feminism birthed and rebirthed in international relations by the prodigious performance of the masculine" (Smith, Booth and Zalewski, 1996, p.255-256).

The principles of the feminist theory are grounded in the life experiences of women and the scope is that of promoting the equality of genders. In other words, they argue that genders are social constructions based on perceptions that need to change. In this setting, there are also arguments which state that the feminist theory is distorted as it blames the masculinity for the injustices in the world.

"Feminism […] is a tradition of that makes a gender-biased argument for a more femininely and womanly engendered world from the beginning. Feminism is unbalanced, even irrational, because of its normative, prescriptive agenda" (Weber, 2009, p.103).

In either case however, this project assumes that the issues of gender inequality are indeed recurrent and important within the modern day society, and they as such play an important role in international relations, to as such constitute an important research element. The feminist theory and movement can be classified into three categories, based on the time in which they occurred, as well as the evolutions they implied. These three periods are described below:

(1) the first wave of feminism commenced during the eighteenth century and lasted up to the beginning of the twentieth century. The more notable element of this movement is that it united women from all ideological stances, including Christians, conservatives, socialist, libertarians and even anarchists. They mainly militated for the legal, economic and political equality of women. They fought for rights to own property, to get jobs, to vote and to be protected against violence.

(2) the second feminist wave lasted between the 1960 through to the 1990s and its scope was that of eliminating the differences between the genders. It strived to change the perception of gender differences at a cultural level and it instated numerous legislations in this sense, such as harassment laws, rape laws, diversity and sensitivity training and other efforts towards affirmative action.

(3) Last, the third phase of the feminist movement commenced during the 1990s decade and represents a continuation of the second wave. The feminist activists feel that the modern day women are less interested in the values of the movement. The ideology and agenda of this third phase have remained similar to those in the second phase, and new issues were added, such as the rights of the gay and transgender populations, the rights of oppressed populations and environmentalism (Intellectual Takeout).

Two important sub-areas in the feminism theory which are highly relevant in the contemporary society are represented by post-modern feminism and by environmentalism. Each of the two sub-areas of feminism is characterized by its own strengths, weaknesses and features, and they also strive to answer different questions.

The strength of post-modern feminism is that it represents a new dimension of feminism. Previous to it, feminists had promoted women as a homogenous group, but post-modern feminists recognize the differences in women. They argue that women are different in age, in occupation, in education, in nationality and ethnicity, in social class and in a wide array of other criteria; and that the differences ought to be noted and each small category of homogenous women should follow its own path, rather than become identified with a pre-established and united women's front (Seidman, 2011).

These post-modern feminists strive to move passed the preconceived ideas of right and wrong, arguing that these are subjective and cannot be universally used to assess situations and establish norms of behavior. This represents another strength recognizing uniqueness and not integrating women and situations within the pre-established standards. They instead emphasize on individuality, of both situations, as well as people, outside the previously imposed canons.

"Post-modern feminists reject thee traditional assumptions of truth, knowledge and power, which they believe are centered on an absolute male style, thus disregarding the transformative gender dimension. Post-modern feminists have criticized many general theories for their failure to see gender as a fundamental category, consisting of individuals and social relations" (Fourie, 2001, p.401).

A major critique brought to post-modern feminism is that it strives to impose the belief that women are not only the equals of men, but their superiors even. In such a setting, the theory generates imbalances and stands decreased chances of real life application in an unprejudiced and universally accepted manner.

Another shortage of the sub-area of feminism is represented by the fact that it appears to be minimizing the feminine attributes of the women. Post-modern feminism materializes in issues such as women denying skirts, dresses or other signs of femininity, and this is a sign of rebellion. While this behavior is a personal choice and can be perceived as an effort to empower women, it is also perceived as a step towards the loss of femininity (Roots Web).

Then, another weakness of the post-modernist theories is that they are often intricate. They do not promote a clear and concise thought, and their arguments are written in a confusing and non-linear manner. This is the result of the belief that linear thought is the result of male dominance, and the conviction that non-structured writing and thought would dethrone this male dominance.

"Because linear, syntaxically normal speech and writing are viewed as part of the propaganda of the dominant order, breaking them down the linguistic power structure is, in their philosophies, an important part of undermining that power. So in fact, being obtuse and chaotic is their way of introducing change and therefore offering new meanings" (Roots Web).

From the general perspective, environmentalism is understood as a trend focused on the preservation of the natural environment. It arises in the context of pollution and global warming and its aim is that of protecting the environment so that nature can still generate resources for the future generations. Environmentalism is correlated with economic, political and social efforts and its aims include the reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels, the reduction of pollution, the emphasis on renewable energy, preservation of the endangered species, the sustainable use of water or the protection of biodiversity (Ecological Problems, 2008). This… READ MORE

How to Reference "Respect to Any One Approach to IR" Essay in a Bibliography

Related Essays:

Optimal Business Forms for Taxation Purposes Research Paper

optimal business forms for taxation purposes in recent years has compelled many businesses to form limited liability companies (LLCs) or S Corporations. Both of these alternatives provide some measures of… read more

Research Paper 21 pages (5934 words) Sources: 20 Style: Chicago Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

Ecological Approach to Management ; Invasive Species Essay

Ecosystems / Invasive Species

The Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) follows ten basic principles. The first is hierarchical context, which insists on examining biodiversity at ever level within the ecosystem… read more

Essay 3 pages (1022 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Environment / Conservation / Ecology

---

Kinesthetics Movement in the Classroom Research Proposal

Kinesthetic Intelligence -- and Kinesthetic Learning for Every Child

Most educators are aware that there are different styles of learning. However, this does not mean that they are equally aware… read more

Research Proposal 30 pages (8911 words) Sources: 12 Style: APA Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Blackboard, Inc. Marketing Plan Term Paper

Blackboard Inc. marketing plan

Blackboard Inc. is a software company focused on delivering high quality products that satisfy a wide array of customers. Their products and services mainly target students,… read more

Term Paper 18 pages (4520 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

Feminists Critique of International Relations the Gendered Politics of International War and Peace Research Paper

Gender and International Relations

International Relations in perspective

Gendered issues in the realm of International Relations have not been widely discussed, questioned or researched until recently, according to author Jill… read more

Research Paper 30 pages (10127 words) Sources: 30 Topic: Women / Feminism

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>