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Agent vs structure: Agent’s’: interests are constructed by the social structures in which they exist.
A structure is a set of rules that is understood by the agent that substantially guides the agent choices of actions in specific social settings. (Agents create the structures, but the structures dictate how the agents may act.)
Gender/Feminist Theory
Tickner’s critique of Morgenthau:
1.Objectivity is masculine perspective. Dismissal of emotion
2.National interest is actually multi-dimensional (POV important)
3.Power cannot be infused with specific meaning. Also is the ability to make things.
4.Rejects idea of separation of moral command and political action. Security over justice.
5.Don’t equate one state’s morals as above another’s. Moral aspirations cannot be equated with universal morals. But shared morals can be used to find common ground. Does not need to be zero sum game. Used for de-escalating conflict and building international communities.
6.Denies validity of autonomy of the political. Associated with masculinity. Disciplinary efforts. Stand alone. Don’t need anyone. Building boundaries around narrowly defined political realm. (excludes concerns and contributions of women.)
Feminist views on power: Elshtain: Focuses more on “soft power” (attraction and co-opting) over “hard power” (militarism, coercion, using money as persuasion). Soft power is ability to shape preferences of others through appeal, attraction, cooperation
Tickner: Power is control of man over man. Domination is one form that power takes, not only one. They believe that power in society is unequally, and unjustly, balanced towards men. Feminists say this leads to the discrimination of women, with men using their power to control women’s lives.
Feminist views on the state: States can be “gendered” in their approach.Looks at how IR affects both men and women and how the core concepts employed in IR (war, security, etc.) Emphasizes importance of looking at how gender shapes the current global political economy.
Feminist views on the citizenship:
The gendered effects of international politics (war, development, sanctions, etc.): Feminists focus on epistemology and what we can know and how we see; the social setting and perspective. Idea of “good” based upon POV (maintenance of the order vs. overthrow of the order). Only value for “rational and objective,” no value for emotional/spiritual and subjective.
Critical and Postmodern Theory
Frankfurt School Emancipation: Group of Germans sociologist & philosophers they came from the Marxist tradition. They were disenchanted by marxists. workers were very nationalistic ect.. They become disillusioned by Maxt reality & ideology. They broke with marxism orthodox. They tried to learned from the weakness of Marxism but couldn’t. They focused on class power, focus on the means of production.
Knowledge-interest:
critical theory, that knowledge is always situated and embedded, Knowledge shapes the world. The purpose of theory should be to examine the purposes that any particular theory serves- who’s benefiting in some particular theory-interest are been legitimized by a particular theory. The theory they do focused in Emancipation, removing unnecessary constraints from people’s actions.
Deconstruction: An approach, not a method, a believe that our concepts and believes comes from contrasting two things. You define one thing by saying what it is. One has more value over the other, the other one that is not value is only to highlight the other meaning, a significance of the other term. The ideas are to break things apart, break the structure of the pair of meaning. Take familiar concepts and make them seem strange.
Genealogy: Genealogy (term borrowed from Nietzsche) Interested in other forms of knowledge that didn’t win and overcome by the dominant; suppressed forms of knowledge. What those forms of knowledge had to say. Purpose to look for new forms of resistance to dominant practices today. This element of resistance falls away, later just different ways to read diff. theories in IR.
Archaeology: Associated with a French author (Foucault): An approach to the history of various concepts and practices in society, looks in particular for the possibilities of knowledge. The rules for what constitute the concept knowledge. There are not universal, are changeable according to time. But they function as a fundamental code for a given culture. He calls these rules as EPISTEME, he’s interested in the discontinuity of these rules. What allows one to overcome the other concept of knowledge? There are others forms of knowledge, but they are suppressed by the dominant approach.Power-knowledge: A different approach to power according to Foucault, it not an attribute, not held by someone , is something that is upon us. Different powers can be use it for different purposes but something that cannot be posse. Actors use it for their convenience. Those who have the power dictate what counts as power. You have the power you get to choose what counts as truth.