2. Positivism, Post -Positivism, and Interpretivism
• Postpositivism rejects the
positivist approach that a
researcher can be an
independent observer of the
social world.
• Postpositivist argue that the
ideas, and even the particular
identity, of a researcher
influences what they observe
and therefore impacts upon what
they conclude.
• Postpositivism pursues objective
answers by attempting to
recognize, and work with, such
biases with the theories and
knowledge that theorists develop
Post -Positivism
• Views the world as ‘out there’
waiting be observed and analyzed
by the researcher.
• Base their assumptions upon
analyzing physical elements
such as states and international
organizations.
• The study of facts and the
gathering of physical evidence.
• ‘good’ social research:
• Objectivity
• Replicability
• Falsification
Positivism
• Objectivity is impossible
• Focus on gaining subjective
knowledge through approaches
where individuals, or smaller
groups, are analyzed in depth
through detailed observations
and discussions
• This harnesses a broader
framework of ‘qualitative
analysis’ in which deeper sets of
data are sought from smaller
numbers of participants – such
as through detailed interviews.
Interpretivism
3. ● Interpretivist learning should be centered on contextual
understanding, not mathematical precision or universal
correctness.
● Instead of trying to achieve objectivity, replicability and falsifiability,
an interpretivist project must aim at demonstrating reflexivity and
hermeneutic sensibility.
● To some IR scholars, feminism represents yet another IR theory.
But to most theorists, feminism offers a variety of illuminating
critiques of the mainstream perspectives the world would be a
better place if women were given more space to define, describe,
and lead in domestic and international affairs (Mingst et al., 2019)
● Feminists argue that the IR discipline falls into the trap of believing
that the masculine experience is the human experience.
● Diverse perspective:
● Liberal
● Radical, and
● Postmodernist
FEMINISM as
interpretive understanding
4. ● Aristophanes (c. 446–386 BCE)
● portrayed women in Lysistrata not only as more oriented toward
peace and less prone to resort to warlike activities than men,
but also as powerful, often decisive actors in their own right.
● Mary Astell (1666–1731)
● “core liberal feminist belief that men and women are equally
capable of reason, and that therefore they should be equally
educated in its use.”
● Early radical feminism “man (whether as sexual predator or
tyrannous husband) is the natural enemy of woman” as well as
“the idea that women must be liberated from the need to please
men.”
● Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
● 20th century suffrage movement the right to vote leads to
universal suffrage the right to vote regardless of gender, race,
ethnicity, religion, wealth, income, social status, or political
stance.
FEMINISM Precursors
5. Major Assumptions
• Gender is a primary way to
signify relationships of power
in the world of foreign policy
and international relations
• Feminists emphasize social
relations as the key unit of
analysis, obviously interested
in the causes and
consequences of unequal
power relationships between
men and women
• Mainstream IR theories an
important task for feminist
theory is to make strange of
the basic concepts and
assumptions of it.
2
• Use gender approach as the
major category of analysis to
highlight women’s
perspectives on social issues
and research.
• Gender is a set of socially and
culturally constructed
characteristics that are (often
stereotypically) associated
with what it means in any
culture to be masculine or
feminine
• The two gender categories are
dependent upon one another
for their meaning
1 • Dedicated to the
emancipatory goal of
achieving equality for women
via the elimination of unequal
gender relations
• Rather than basing their
analysis on abstract
speculation of how anarchy
may influence the behavior of
rational, unitary states (as
many realists are prone to do),
the emphasis is on how, for
example, military conflict
among and within states
directly affects the lives of
the dispossessed, women in
particular.
3
6. ● Liberal feminists emphasize the exclusion of women from important public
spheres of social, political, and economic life.
● The first strand seeks to expose the many areas of international
relations where women are underrepresented and to identify ways to
overcome barriers
● The second strand looks to uncover women’s participation but not
reported/dismissed
● Radical Feminism
● Inequalities define the very structures in which women might
participate. Participation alone will not alter this fundamental fact
● Men more prone to conflict, women more nurturing genetic approach
but many also criticized
● Postmodern Feminism
● Aims to displace realist and liberal positivist discourse and epistemology
with a commitment to skepticism concerning truth claims about
international relations
● Postcolonial Feminism
● Focused on Third World countries and the roles women have played and
continue to play in tribal and other settings
● Rejecting the implicit assumption that women are essentially a
homogeneous group unaffected by race, class, culture, sexuality, and
history
Strands of FEMINISM
The nature of power
relationships up
and down the levels
of analysis
7. ● Gender and War
● Joshua Goldstein’s War and Gender despite political,
economic, and cultural differences, gender roles in war are
consistent across all known human societies (although this is
changing).
● The concept of security “Security for whom?”
● A spectrum of security
● Gender and International Organization
● Sandra Whitworth how international organizations are part of
complex political and social processes that aid in the
construction of assumptions about the proper roles of women
and men in the workforce
● Gender and Migration studies
● How protection during human mobility affects differently among
vulnerable groups including women?
Application of Feminism in IR
