Gender and International Relations: Issues, Debates and Future Directions (Paperback)

"Gender and International Relations takes us across a vast terrain, from gender in IR to building transnational feminist solidarities. In this second edition Jill Steans updates issues and resources in feminist IR, in the light of changing international politics. The book uncovers gender in terms of states, security and conflict, wealth and poverty, and women mobilizing internationally, as well as exploring feminist sites and strategies for contesting exclusions, inequalities and gendered violences. Importantly, it makes clear how after nearly two decades of feminist IR, there is much to celebrate, and to learn, through still much to be done."
Jan Jindy Pettman, Australian National University

"This is an excellent book which will be invaluable to all teachers of International Relations seeking to introduce student to the major strides made by scholars interrogating the role of gender in International Relations theory. It covers a wide range of complex theoretical developments in a way that displays the complementarities and tensions within this burgeoning field in a language that is elegant and accessible. It sets out the field in a way that will encourage students to explore key themes in further detail. What I particularly like about the book is the way in which it shows how the insights of gender sensitive IR theory can be applied to specific topics such as: war and peace, security, IPE, development, and human rights."
Mervyn Frost, King’s College London

"Following the well–received first edition, Steans has revised chapters and added entirely new material, providing the most current overview of contentious theoretical debates. A comprehensive, accessible and well–organized text that is extremely useful for undergraduate and graduate courses."
Spike Peterson, University of Arizona

Product Description
The second edition of Jill Steans′ successful and highly respected book offers a comprehensive overview of feminist scholarship and feminist contributions to international relations, and provides an in–depth discussion of how feminist IR has sought to re–think key concepts and central areas of concern in the field.


Its ten chapters cover core topics, such as feminist theories; international relations theory; gender in the theory and practice of ′state–making′; feminist perspectives on war and peace; feminist approaches to security; the gender dimension of international political economy; gender and the politics of development; and women′s human rights as both a ′universal project′ and a political tool. The book also discusses some of the key debates and exchanges that have taken place between feminist IR scholars and those located both in the ′mainstream′ of IR and the newly constructed ′middle ground′ of IR. It concludes by exploring the affinities between feminist IR and other ′critical′ theories of IR and identifies new research trajectories and potentially productive lines of future theoretical inquiry in the discipline.


The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of international relations. It will also be useful to the general reader interested in exploring the complexities of thinking about gender issues and feminism in a global context.

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