Feminist IR Theory: A Challenge or Rhetoric to International Politics?

Abstract

The inquiry is focused on what the Feminist International Relations (IR) Theory challenge is and how the challenge is articulated? The author tried to identify the “feminist challenge” or the “feminist standpoint in IR” to gain understanding of the much touted ‘feminist challenge’ in IR. Qualitative literature review was adopted, and content analysis of the literature on the subject conducted. The identified papers through internet searches of various websites and content providers in the scholastic literature domain on IR, Feminism and Gender Studies, were selected for use, assessing the validity and trustworthiness of each paper. The identified papers were selected purposively, using the snowball effect by mining the reference pages of the leading papers with appreciable number of citations, until saturation was reached. The feminist standpoint appears to be all about the determination of sheer intellectual discourse or discussion and publications as legitimate feminine voices and position in IR studies by a few good researchers? In actual diplomatic practice, Feminist IR Theory is not universally adopted or applied to international politics and diplomacy. It was or is difficult to identify the results that the Feminist challenge has produced in the conduct of international relations and politics. State realism raised on male masculinity and patriarchal viewpoints and dominance in IR is still the prevailing approach to IR practice. There is a need for a better articulation of the feminist standpoint in IR since it invokes other competing standpoints such as the Masculine Standpoint, Black African Standpoint, African American Standpoint, Chinese Standpoint, etc., due to the need for objectivity, Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity on the world scale. The conclusion suggests that the Feminist Standpoint Theory in IR appears to be an invalid concept or, at best, has limited application in practice in world politics.