INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1

This course introduces students to the academic discipline of Feminist International Relations, with specific focus on the role of Gender, Peace and Security agenda and women’s peace movements. With a starting point in scholarship on gender and security, as well as race and postcolonialism, this course examines the history of women’s peace movements, as well as their contemporary materialisation. We specifically focus on the impact of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 agenda on women’s roles in peacebuilding, peace-making and peacekeeping

The module is organised around three core themes:

Theme 1: Introduction to gender theories from a global perspective

Traditional gender theories (Liberal feminism, Socialist feminism, Radical feminism and Social Constructivism); Critical gender theories (Black feminism, Poststructural feminism, and Postcolonial feminism, Intersectional feminism).

Theme 2: Gender and security

Gender in/security and Feminist International Relations; Gendering militarisation/gendered militaries;
Gender based violence in conflict.

Theme 3: Gender and peace

Theorising gender and peace; Maternal peace theories; Women’s peace movements; UNSCR 1325 agenda.

Theme 4: Case studies of gender, peace and security

UNSCR 1325 and women’s roles in peacebuilding, peace-making and peacekeeping: for instance Kashmir, former Yugoslavia and Balkans, Colombia, Liberia, Sri Lanka and Guatemala.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
✓ Critically analyse peace and security from a gender perspective;
✓ Critically engage with theoretical debates of gender in relation to contemporary issues of peace and security;
✓ Analyse and critique current debates on gender, peace and security, and their interactions with theories on race, sexuality, and postcolonialism;
✓ Critically reflect on their own positionality and experience that they bring to the study of gender, peace and security.

None.

Lecture overview

Theme 1: Introduction to gender theories from a global perspective

Lecture 1. Welcome to Politics of Gender, Peace and Security and Feminist theories

1. What is feminist analysis?
2. Why cannot gender be understood without including intersectionality?

Lecture 2. Feminist methodologies

1. Can we speak of a feminist methodology?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of feminist methodologies?

Theme 2: Gender and security

Lecture 3. Feminist approaches to security and conflict

1. What can we learn about security and conflict if we pay attention to gender?
2. Is Feminist International Relations truly International? And what makes it Feminist?

Lecture 4. Gendering militarisation/gendered militaries

1. What ‘war stories’ do we associate with men and women respectively?
2. What is meant by ‘militarised masculinities’?

Lecture 5. Gender based violence in conflict

1. What are the differences between ‘sexual violence’ and ‘gender based violence’? Do scholars and policy-makers need to distinguish the two?
2. How do norms of masculinity impact responses to violence against men?

Theme 3: Gender and peace

Lecture 6. Theorising gender and peace

1. Why does it matter how we define peace? How is peace connected to theories of (Human) Security?
2. How have women and men been positioned in narratives of peace?

Lecture 7. The Women, Peace and Security Agenda (UNSCR1325)

1. To what extent did the implementation of UNSCR1325 demonstrate a shift in the approach of the United Nations Security Council?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of UNSCR 1325?

Lecture 8. Feminist peace movements

1. What role has feminist peace movements played in peace processes?
2. What are the similarities and differences between women’s/feminist peace movements across the world?

Theme 4: Case studies of gender, peace and security

Lecture 9. Conflict and peace in Kashmir

1. What is security in Kashmir?
2. How are the Kashmiri population’s experiences of security and insecurity gendered?

Lecture 10. Future of peace? Feminist foreign policy, war and security

1. What forms of feminism is the feminist foreign policy built on?
2. To what extent is feminist foreign policy a useful approach to build peace and security?

Course literature: Gender Matters in Global Politics: A Feminist Introduction to International Relations (3rd Edition), edited By Laura J. Shepherd and Caitlin Hamilton. Routledge, 2023. https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Matters-in-Global-Politics-A-Feminist-Introduction-to-International/Shepherd-Hamilton/p/book/9780367477608

Oral exam.

Lectures and discussion.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development