International Relations Feminism: Power, Conflict And Development Issues, Gender Analysis

Since International Relations came into being, its new perspectives and methods have emerged in an endless stream. The Third debate that has begun in 1970s is noted for its letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend. The women's movement breaking out in the West in 1960s has encouraged feminism to permeate IR and become one of the most vigorous schools of thought.Feminism sees gender as its core conception and interprets some factors in the heart of society and culture seriously, looking into socially and culturally constructed perceptions of the differences between men and women. As for the IR, feminism poses problem about how to understand and whether to respect the plurality of the world in bringing into light the discrimination of women concealed by the appearance of gender neutrality of the discipline.Differentiating and analysing the basic concepts as feminism and gender, combing the ontology, epistemology of feminist international relations and relations between it and mainstream schools of IR, the dissertation interprets feminist analysis of mainstream IR perspectives about power and security, war and peace, development studies, makes comprehensively inquiry into interactions between construction of IR knowledge and gender perceptions in it. Gender conceptions reflect social relations between different sexual groups, and theories and practice of international relations form in the contacts between nation-states. They appear to be irrelevant, but are connected with each other in a particular cultural background implied in them. Forming of gender perceptions don't separate itself from the specific social background including international surroundings in what a nation-state exists, and as political movement with the impetuous force, women's struggle for equality also promotes transforms of the traditional culture and changes of the concepts in the IR. Feminist school of the international relations thought not only actively promotes the discipline to pay attention to the women and their work, done for maintaining the international system, but also makes great efforts to redress the forms of behavior and values, connected shty women and neglected as they, criticizing deep-rooted man-centred culture. At the same time, feminism is against to relate any form of behavior and value to a certain sex, striving to smash the bindings of the traditional gender conceptions and the orientation of values, embodied in them.Repudiating mainstream IR schools of thought and its views on power and security, war and peace, development studies for the sexism implied in them, feminist schools of thought does not deny them overall and initiates constructive negotiation between both sides. Many opinions of feminism transcend the pursuit of gender equality. It is against the realism for that it sees the power as the control and bases the security of one country on the detering the other. This school of thought of international relations emphasizes that every country must gain and guarantee its independence, relying on its own effort, as well as seek lasting political stability of tyhe world through mutual understanding, respecting and cooreration. Feminism sees the peace ont only as the lack of the war, but also as building the world, where sourereinity of the all countries and the basic rights of all persons are respected. As for the development, feminism points out, that it not only means the increase of material wealth, but also includes the development of politics, economy, sociaty and the other aspects of the human life. The development must mean not only meet the needs of everybody imparially, but guarantee the security of the environment. Development must be achieved on the base of the inpartial and equitable international order. These standpoints provide illuminating remarks for conprehending international affairs and enrich the theory and practice of international relations.Based on diifferenting and analysing the feminist school of thought of international relations, the dissertation tries to examine feminism that originates from the West, drawing materials from China. Traditions of political culture of China are distinct from those of the West, but both they are similar in treating the relations between state and family, public and private domains. Discrimination against women is deep-rooted in Chinese political traditions. Moreover, China ought to know the game rules of international society well or adhere them, no matter the former resisted or consciously joins the latter, and China is deeply influenced by gender perspectives, embodied in these rules. Promotinl of gender equality must become one of the fundamental components in the initiation of building of harmonic world by China.