Feminism and international relations: towards a global approach.

Brendle, C, 1999. Feminism and international relations: towards a global approach. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

The thesis examines International Relations in connection with recent feminist trends in the discipline. C. Sylvester's 'Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era' (Cambridge University Press, 1994) and her concepts of 'homesteading' and 'empathetic cooperation' are basic to its theoretical foundations. The first half of the thesis is entirely dedicated to theory, mapping out current trends in International Relations and specifically taking a fresh look at International Relations in conjunction with Feminism. The study includes Christine Sylvester's contributions as well as other foundations to International Relations and Feminism. The second, larger part focuses on the field research done on and in China. It particularly concentrates on the international aspects of International Relations, examining the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing. Investigating not only 'women's issues' in China and the 'West' and their expression before, through and after the conference, it also enlarges the scope of this thesis. Chinese culture, philosophy, language, politics etc. are studied with regard to internationalist and gender aspects as it draws parallels as well as differences between these givens. The thesis asks how international International Relations really are and whether countries that do not figure within the US/western world do have access. The choice of women and China for this thesis was a main purpose to enable examination of this important issue of accessibility and internationality of the discipline. It shows how certain groups are marginalized, explicitly or implicitly, due to a combination of factors including culture, race and gender. The discipline is therefore widened and restrained at the same time. Widened in order to allow further integration of tine margins and bridge-building between disciplines: restrained because the specialisation and further subdivision of the discipline is at once a necessary tool to avoid distortion but also a dangerous development which tends to lose sight of the bigger picture and gives a partial, rather than holistic approach to what we define as the field of International Relations.

Item Type:	Thesis
Creators:	Brendle, C.
Date:	1999
ISBN:	9781369313444
Identifiers:	Number Type PQ10183052 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Arts and Humanities
Record created by:	Jeremy Silvester
Date Added:	04 Sep 2020 08:16
Last Modified:	28 Jun 2023 08:53
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/40624

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