Chapter 10 Question bank

Short answer questions

  1. What is feminism?
  2. What is constitutive theory?
  3. What is the gender binary?
  4. What is gender essentialism?
  5. Name the four main feminist international relations theories.
  6. What is feminist foreign policy?
  7. What does the term ‘gender performativity’ mean?
  8. What is The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)?
  9. What is the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda?
  10. In your own words, explain what is meant by the term ‘patriarchy’.

Essay questions

  1. Discuss the four main feminist international relations theories. Which do you find most convincing and why?
  2. In what ways does feminism draw on Marxist theory? Give one illustrative example to underline your answer.
  3. Draw on a historical example of your choice to discuss the claim: ‘the fate of nations is tied to the status of women’ (Hudson et al. 2012).
  4. In what way are gender and power interlinked concepts?
  5. In what way is the state a gendered organization of power?
  6. Why are feminist critiques of works such as Hobbes’ Leviathan and Machiavelli’s The Prince relevant for the study of international relations?
  7. Outline Judith Butler’s notion of ‘gender performativity’. Do you find this a useful concept for the study of gender in international relations?
  8. What is meant by feminists’ deconstructive and reconstructive work? Explain with reference to a specific example.
  9. How important, in your eyes, is feminist theory for international relations?
  10. In what way is feminism an interdisciplinary theory?
  11. What is the main argument of postcolonial feminist theory? What does this reveal about other global power structures?
  12. Take one topic of international relations discussed in the book (e.g. international law, environmentalism, security, etc.) and analyse/critique it from a feminist theoretical perspective of your choice.
  13. Use feminist theory to deconstruct the notion of war.
  14. Why is it important to ask not only ‘where are the women’ (Enloe), but also which women are where? Explain with reference to specific examples.
  15. Discuss three different understanding of gender. Which do you find most convincing for the study of international relations?
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