GENDER IN

NDdN;:
Gender in International
Reltioms extends and applies variety of contemporary
a

feminist perspectives to the phenomenon of international relations.

Demonstrating how a feminist perspective changes and expands our view of
the global system, Tickner explores the ways in which the world economy has dif-
ferentially rewarded men anld women and reexamines the gender implications of
modem mankind's domination over nature.
Tickner's review of gender differences in political, military, economic, and eco-

INTERNATTONA
in
logical relations offers a new view of the insecurities faced by women and men
theo-
world polits. Her feminist reconceptualization of security recasts recent
retical efforts in intermational relations to construct more adequate security
and common
aTangements, both comprehensive

it is too well considered

Tickner'sstimulating hallenge can be disputed, but

RELATIONS
nternational Relations is likely to begin a pro
and thoughtful to ignore. Grnder in
relations scholars, feminist thinkers, and
ductive debate involving intermational
others concerned about security in the most inclusive sense."-Robert O. Keohane
Harvard University

"Tiner's book provides ways to beginto

frame discomfort with this narrow
intemational relations] MINIST T PERSSPE
INIST
CTIECTIVVES
ly gender-conceived
and yet oddly self-satisfied field [of alternative
It features the new and
the It provides
bold and the uninvestigated.arhount
and impresses us with the
of work feminist
points of departure fortheoty
scholars have already done to
clear thebrush Ofutmost value, it tells of the many
to get its knowledge and priorities
field.. neds feminist thinking
ways the
.

straight." -Christine Sylvester

American PoliticalScience Revieo

at the College of the

J. Ann Tickner is Associate Professor of Political Science is 1993-94 Vice Presi
International Relations. She
Holy Cross, where she teaches has been a Visiting Research
dent of the International Studies Associatión and Women: She is the author
for Research on
Scholar at the Wellesley Colege Center
Polities: American and Indian
Experiences in Building
of Self-Reliance Versus Power Press.
Nation-States, also published by Columbia University SEC
OBALS
SERIES
WORLD POLITICS
NEW DiREETIONS IN
Ruggie, Editors .
Helen Milner and John Gerard

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

NEW YORK
ISBN 0-231-07539
G GLOB
NTAI TIUNED
 2
Man, the State, and War:
Gendered Perspectives on
National Security
It is not in giving life but in risking life that man is
raised above the animal: that is why superiorily has
been accorded in humanity not to the sex that brings
forth but to that which kills.
-SIMONE DE BEaUvOIR
The man's duty, as a member of the commonwealth,
is to assist in the maintenance, in the advance, in
the defence of the state. The woman's duty, as a
member of the commonwealth, is to assist in the
ordering, in the comforting, and in the beautiful
adornment of thé state.
-JoHN RuSKIN
f we do not redefine manhood, war is inevitable.
-PaUL FusSELL

In the face of what is generally perceived

as a dangerous international environ-
ment, states have ranked national secu-
rity high in terms of their policy priorities.
According to international relations scholar
Kenneth Waltz, the state conducts its af-
fairs in the "brooding shadow of. vio-
lence," and therefore
*
war could break out
at any time.' In the name of national se-
curity, states have justified large dëfense
budgets, which take priority over domes-
ti spending, military conscription of their
I owe the title of this chapter to Kenneth Waltz's
book Man, the State, and War.

27
 2 War:

Man, the State, and

G endered Perspectives on

National Security
that an is
but in risk\ug life
Itis not giving
in life superiority
has
the animal:
that is zohy
raised above sex that brings
accorded in humanity
not to|the
been kills.
forth but to
thut whid
-SIMONE DE BEauvoTR
commonwealth,

The man's duty, as a

member of he in
naintenance, i
the advance,
is lo assist in the duty, as a
state. The wvonan's
the defence of the the
s to assist in
mUmber of the commonwealth,
in the beautiful
conforting, an
ordering, in the
adornment of the state.
JOHN Ruski
is inevitable.
do not redefinemanhood, jvar
f twe -PAUL FussEl

In the face of what is generally perceived

as dangerous internatjonal environ-
a

ment, states have ranked | national secu-

high in terms of their pplicy priorities.
rity scholar
According to international relations
Kenneth donducts its af-
Waltz, the state

fairs in the "brooding shadow of vio-

lence," and therefore war dould break out
national se-
at any time.' In the n a m e of
defense
curity, states have justifiéd large
domes-
budgets, which take priority over
tic spending, military consdription of their

I o w e the title of this chapter t Kenneth Waltz's

book Man, the State, and War.

27
 MAN, THE STA TE, AND WAR MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR

young adult male population, forcign invasions, and the demic approaches to international relations, political
realism
curtailment of civil liberties. The is most closely associated with the worldview of loreign
ceived as a cone value that is
security.of the state is per-
generally supported unqueS policy prafitiöners, particularly national security specialists
Realists have concentrated their investigations on the activi
tioningly
the
by most citizens, particularly in time ofwar. While
role of the state in the
twentieth century has expanded ties of the great powers: therefore mý discussion in this
to include the|provision of domestic social programs, na- section will be drawn mainly from the experiences of the
tional security often takes precedence over the social security great powers, particularly the contemporary United States
of individuals. with whose activities realists are centrally concerned.
TWhen we think about the provision of national security CFor realists, security is Hed to the miitary security uf the
we enter intowhat has been, and continues to be, an almost state Given their pessimistic assumptions about the likely
port what behavior of states in an "anarchic" international environ-
exclusively male domain. While most women
they take to be legitimate calls for state action in the interests ment, most realists are skeptical about the possibility of states
of international security, thetask ofdefining, defending.and ever achieving perfect security. Înanimperfect world, where
advancing the security interests of thestate is a man's affair, many states have national secutity interests that go beyond
a task that, thrbugh its association with war, has been espe self-preservation and where there is no international govern-
cially valorized and rewarded in many cultures throughout ment to curb their ambitions, realists tell us that war could
male supe-
history. As Simone de Beauvoir's explanation for break out at any time because nothing can prevent it. Con-
riority suggests, giving one's ife for one's country has been sequently, they advise, states must rely on their own power
considered the highest form. of patriotism, but it is an act capabilities to achieve security. The best contribution the
from which women have been virtually excluded While men discapline of international Telations can make to national se-
state and advanc
have been associatedwithdefending the curity is to investigate the causes of war and thereby help to
ing its international and
interests as soldiers diplomats, women design "realistic" policies that can prolong intervals of peace.
"comtort
have typically beenengaged in the "ordering' and Realists counsel that morality is usually ineffective in a dan-
ing roles both|in the domestic sphere, as mothers and basic gerous world: a "realistic" understanding of amoral and in-
needs providers, and in thecaring professions, with as teachers, strumentalbehavior, characteristic of international politics,
nurses, and sociäl workërsf Therole of women respect| is necessary if states are not to fall prey to others' ambitions.
to nationat security has been ambiguous: defined as those! In looking for/explanations for the causes of war, realists,
have had
whom the state and its men are protecting, women as well as scholars in other approaches to international rela-
little control over the conditions of their protection. tions, have distinguished among three levels of analysis: the
the
I shall begin|this chapter by examining contemporary work
individual, the state, and the international system. While
realist analysis of national security, concentrating on the realists claim thàt their theories are."objective" and of uni-
Waltz, two scholars of versal validity, the assumptions they use when analyzing
of Hans Morgenthau and Kenneth
as a classi- states and explaining their behavior in the international sys-
international relations whom.I define in chapter 1
discüss
cal realist and a neorealist, respectively.3I shall also tem are heavily dependent on characteristics that we, in the
Machia- West, have come toassociate with masculinityThe way in
some ideas of Thomas Hobbes and Niccolò
of the
had an
velli, Western political theorists whose writings havethe which realists describe the individual, the state, and the
i **** vei
realism. Of all aca- international system are profoundly gendered; each is con-
important influence.on contemporary

8 29
 WAR
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR MAN, THE STA TE, AND

structed in terms of the Realism

idealized or
hegemonic masculinity National Security and Contemporary
described in chapter 1. In the
name of universality, realists
have constructed a worldview based on the
experiences of Realist Prescriptions for National Security
certain men: it is
therefore a worldview that offers us only. Realists believe that, since there is Ino international govern
partial view of reality: ment capable of enforcing impartial rules for states' behav
Having examined the connection between realism and 1or, states must take matters of security into their own hands
masculinity, I shall examine some feminist perspectives on
even if it yields dangerous results. Kenneth Waltz uses eigh
national security. Using feminist theories, which draw on
the experiences of women, I shall ask how it would affect teenth-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau's meta
the phor of a stag hunt to describe the likely security-seeking
way in which we think about national security if we were behavior of states given this condition of anarchy. Five hun-
to develop an alternative set of assumptions about the indi- hare runs
vidual, the state, and the international system not based 8ry men agree to trap and share a sthg, but when a

exclusively the behavior of by one man grabs it, thereby letting the stag escape: by
on men.
RÇalist assumptions about
states as unitary actors render unproblematic theboundaries detecting from the common goal, this hunter sacrifices the
befween anarchy and order and legitimate and illegitimate long-term cooperative interests of the group, his own
in
; vTolence, If we were_to include the experiences of women, cluded, for his immediate short-term interest." For realists,
this story illustrates the
how woutd it affect the way in which we understand the problematid nature of national secu
meaning of_xiolenee? While women have been less directly rity: in an
international system of arnarchy, rationality would
involved in international violenceas soldiers, their lives hav dictate that mutual cooperation would work in the interest
been affected by domestic violence in households, another of all. But since men are self-seekirng, politically ambitious,
unprotected space, and by the consequences of war and the and not always rational, we must
and some men will not be
âssume that some states
policy priorities of militärized societies Certainfeministshave cooperaive and will start wars.
Given the lack of an
suggested that, because of what they see as a connection. international gbvernment with powers
of enforcement, states must
between sexismand militarism, violence at all levels of soci- for their own
therefore depend on themselves
etyis interTelated a daim that calsinto quesion the realtst security needs even if this is not in the best
assumption of the anarchy/order distinction. Most mpor interests of the system as a whole:"
tant, these feminists claim that all_types of yiolence are For realists this is theclassiç securiy,dilmma. In an
embedded in the
gender hierarchies of dominance and sub. imperfecf Wörtä states càn"never be sure of one another's
intentions, so they arm themselves to achieve security; since
ordination that Tdescribed in chapter 1. Hence they would this is an act that threatens
argue that until these and other hierarchies associated with
motion vicious
someonelelse's security, it sets in
ciass and race aredispmanted and until women have control
a
cycle which results in
the spiraling procure-
ment of
Over their own security a truly comprehensive system of armaments andthe possibility that war could break
out at any time.
Security cannotbe devised Faced with the evef present threat of
lence and the láck of a sanctioning| authority to controlvio
it,
how do realists
suggest that
states|should act to promote
peace and stability in such an environment?
Given their belief that perfect
sedurity is unattainable in
30
31

MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
an
imperfect wotld, realists believe that states can best
mize
their security through preparation for war. For Hans opti-
Morgenthau,, the security of the is
state attained and pre-
served
through the maximization of power, particularly mil-
itary power, Elerments of national power include
secure geo-
graphical boundaries, large territorial size, the capacity for
self-sufficiency in natural and industrial resõurces, and a
strong technological base, all of which contribute to a strong
military capability. Kenneth Waltz suggests th¥t states can
enhance their sequrity by föllowing the
principle ofselfhelp:
in an anarchical
ihternational system, stätes must help them-
selves, for they can count on no one else to do so. For Waltz,
security depends on avoiding dependence and building the
capabilities necessary to defend against other states' aggres-
sive acts: thegreatest rewards for a state come, not from an
increase in well-being, which, might be achieved
through
heightened interdependence, but from the maintenance of
autonomy. In a dangerous world, Waltz predicts that states
with the most power will be the most successful, because
power permits a wide raFge of action.
Prescriptions such as/Morgenthau's power maximization
or Waltz's more
ambiguously defined notion of self-help can
have dangerous
consequences, given the conditions of amar
chy and mutual distrustIn such an environment what pros-
pects for peace arnd sécurity that do exist rest on the opera-
tion of the balance of power, a mechanism that is crucial for
realist
explanations of the behavior of states in the interna-
tional system.(Mbrgenthau claims that peace depends on
two
mechanisms-+balance of power and international law;
since he believes that depending solely on the latter is un-
realistic, given the lack of any international enforcement
mechanism, peace will be maintained, although imperfectly,
by the balance of (power. For realists, balance of power be-
comes an
explanafion'of states' behavior as well as a device
for their
self-preservation. While Morgenthau is somewhat
ambivalent as
whether states intentionally engage in power
to
balancing, Waltz claims that even if it is not the intention of
32
wr.ianen
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
any one state, balances will form as states act, either alone or
through alliances, tocounterthe power of others. Since alli
ances are often fragile and the power capabilities of states
change, power balánces tend toward instability. Given these
uncertainties, Waltz claims that the bipolar balance of the
Cold War period was more stable than
multipolar systems.
Not only did the United States and the Soviet Union check
each others' actions without relying on alliance
partners to
increase their capabilities, but, in a
bipolar world, each re-
sponded to unsettling events within clearly demarcated
of influence, thus maintaining
spheres
stability throughout
the system.
In the post-World War II world, this
bipolar balance of
power became what less sanguine observers termed a "bal-
ance of terror" that rested on the vast array of nuclear weap-
ons possessed by both the United States and the Soviet
Union.In the United States, the unprecedented buildup and
maintenance of huge military arsenals in a time of
led to a new branch of
"peace"
known
international.relations scholarship
asnational.seCuTiky.studies
scholars are realists in their basic
While national security
assumptions and explana-
tions, during the Cold War era they focused almost exclu-
sively on designing a military strategy for the United States
with respect to the Soviet Union. As national
cialists have moved between academia and
security spe-
government,
American national security policy has rested on the realist
prescription of increasing security through preparation for
*
Strategic thinking has centered on the notion of deter-
rence, which mearns relying on one's strategic capability to
prevent the enemy from attacking.Erom the 1960s until the
end of the Cold War, the notion
of mutual deterrence char-
acterized the strategic relationship between.the
and the Soviet' Unión, The stability of mutual
United States
deterrence, a
nuclear form ofbipolar power-balancing, depends on second
strike capability, the ability of both sides to destroy each
others' homeland with nuclear weapons after either side has
33
 WAR
MAN, THE STATE, AND
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
of foreign relations
attempts to act morally in the
conduct
launched afirst attack. Although the United States and the
Soviet Union engaged in a massive military buildup to pre- Can jeopardize the security of
their ofvn pEopte.*
Since Morgenthau wrote the first edition offolitics Among
serve their security during the Cold War, ultimately that rational science
security rested on mutual vulnerability since neither side Nations in 1948, the search for an objective,
from eco
developed the defensive capability to resist the other's at- of international politics based on models imported
goal
tack. However, strategists claim that this rough balance be- nomics and the natural sciences has|been an important to
tween the of each side stable be of the realist agenda./Neorealists, have
who attempted
capabilities was relatively
cause each side understood that to strike first would be to construct a relations, have
"science" of international
positivist
commit suicide. Even though realists have cautioned against used game theoretic and rational chpice models in an effort
the dangerS Of unpredictable actions by aggressive men and to insert more scientific rigor into the field. Realists, as well
expansionist states, this argumernt in favor of strategic stabil- as some of their critics, have also introduced the concept of

ity placed a great deal of emphasis on rationality, an empha- "levels of analysis" to explore the causes of international
sis prevalent in realist thinking more generally.
wars more systëmatically. In international relations scholar-
Realism's prescriptions for national security, described ship, causal explanations for war are conventionally situated
above, rest on the claims of its scholars that they are present- at the levels of the individual, the state, or the international
ing a rational, objective assessment of the international sys-
system.
tem and the behavior of the states that constitute it.
Labeling WhBe most international relations literature concentrates
those who believe in the possibility of eliminating war
through on the second and third levels, neorehlists, who are attempt
international law, intermational cooperation, or disarmament ing to build more parsimonious and 'scientific" approaches
idealists," realists claim that only through this "realistic to the discipline, favor
system-level explanations. Rejecting
understanding of the nature of the international system can what he terms reductionist theories,
states undertake
|Waltz claims that only
policies that will be successful in preserving at the level of the
international systern can we discover laws
their national security. Realists believe that explanations of that can help us to understand the
international behavior of
states' behavior can be described in terms of
laws that are states and the propensity for conflict! Waltz asserts that it is
objective, universal, and timeless. Politics,(Morgenthau
tells not possible to understand states' behavior simply by look-
us, is governed by objective laws that have their roots in ing at each individual unit; one must look at the structure as
humannature; therefore it is possible to discover a rational a whole and see how each state's
capabilities stand in rela-
theory that rettects these objective.laws. Political realism, tion to others'. The extent to which states
will be successful
which for Morgenthau is the concept of interest defined in in attaining their goals and
terms of power, stresses the rational, objective, and unemo- providing for their own security
can be
***
tional. Morgenthau claims that, in order to develop
predicted by analyzing their nelative powercapabili-
an au- ties. But given this
self-seeking behavior in an anarchic envi
tonomous theory of political behayigr, "political man" must ronment, conflict is a likely outcome.| Focusing his
explana-
be
abstractedfrom õthëraspects ofhunman behavior. Political
man is amoral; a falüfe to understand this drive to power,
tions at the level of the
international system, Waltz claims
that it is possible to observe
which ia regularities in the power-balanc-
at the root of the behavior of both individuals and
states, can be the pitfall of well-meaning statesmen whose
ing behavior of states that can be explained in terms similar
to those of
équilibrium theory in microeconomics.

34
35
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
AN, THE STATE, AND AR

womery/Morgenthau claims that

individuals are engaygod in

A
Genderyd Perspective on National Security
Morgenthau, Waltz, and other realists claim that it is pos-
sible to develop a rational, objective theory of international
politics based on universal laws that operate across time and
space. In her feminist critique of the natural sciences, Evelyn
Fox Keller points out that most scientific communities share
the "assumptioh that the universe they study is directly
accessible, represented by concepts shaped not by language
but only by the demands of logic and experiment." The laws
of nature, according to this view of science, are beyond the
relativity of language." Like most contemporary feminists,
Keller rejects this positivist view of science that, she asserts,
imposes a coerqive, hierarchical, and conformist pattern on
scientific inquiry. Since most contemporary feminist scholars
believe that knowledge is socially constructed, they are skep-
tical of finding| an unmediated foundation for knowledge
that realists clajm is possible. Since they believe that it is
feminists suggest
language that transmits knowledge, many
that the scholarly claims about the neutral uses of language
and about objectivity must continually be questioned.3 and the
(1 shall investigate the individual, the state,
now
international system-the three levels of analysis that
realists
use in their analysis of war and national security-and ex-
realist discourse. I
amine how they have been constructed in
shall argue that the language used to describe these concepts
comes out of a Western-centered historical_worldview that
experiences of men. Under-
draws almost exclusively on the
neath its claim to universality this worldview privileges,
a
view of security that is constructed out of values associated
with hegemoni masculinity.)
"Political Man"
detail,
n Among Nations/ a text rich in historicalwithout
his Politics
Morgenthau has constructed a world almost entirely
a struggle for power whenever they
come into contact with
all levels
one another, for the tendency to dominate exists at
and the international
of human life: the family, the polity,
conditions under which
system; it is modified only by the
the struggle takes place." Since women rarely occupy posi-
that,
tions of power in any of these arenas, we can assume
when Morgenthau talks about domination, he is talking pri-
marily about men, although not all men."(His "political
man" is a social construct based on a partial representation
of human nature abstracted from the behavior of men in
positions of public power.6 Morgenthau goes on to suggest
that, while society condemns the violent behavior that can
result from this struggle for puwer within the polity, it en
courages it in the international system in the form of wat
(While Morgenthau's "political man'" has been criticized by
other international relations scholars for its essentializing
view of human nature, the social construction of hegemonic
masculinity and its opposition to a devalued femininityde
scribed in chapter 1, have been central to the way in hich
the discourse of inteTnational politics has been constructed
more generally. In Western political theory from the Greeks
to Machiavelli, traditions upon which contemporary realism
relies heavily for its analysis, of
this sociallyconstructed type
masculinity has been projected onto the interrnationalbehav
iof of states. The violence with which it is associated has
beepegitimatedthrough the glorificaiön of warto the "manly"
The militarized version of itizenship, similar
behavior"described in chapter 1, can be traced back to the
ancient Greek city-states on whose history realists frequently
draw in constructing their analysis. For the Greeks, the most
honored way to achieve recognition as a citizen was through
heroic performance and sacrifice in war. The real test of
manly virtue "arete," a militarized notion of greatness,
or
was a community
was victory in battle." The Greek city-state
in the realm of
involved
of warriors. Women and slaves

37
 WAR
MAN, THE
STA TE, AND

MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR that in Machiavelli's

unpredictability.
Hannah Pitkin claims
the|feminine power in
men
as
"necessity" in the household or the economy were not in- writings fortuna is presented struggle to
cluded as citizens for they would pollute the higher realm of themselves against which they
must continually Machiavelli
politics. 18 In the public world,
maintain their autonomy.22 could not have
This exclusive definition of the citizen-warrior reemerges fortuna as chance, situations that
depicts The capriciousness
in sixteenth-century Europe in the writings of Niccolò Ma- been foreseen or that men
fail to control.
chiavelli. Since he associates human excellence with the com- can be prepared against
of fcrtuna cannot be prevented, but if virtues. Ac
petitive striving for power, what is a negative but unavoid the cultivation of manly
able characteristic of human nature for Morgenthau is a vir and overcome through are in permanent com
cording to Brown, fortuna and virtu
tue for Machiavelli. Machiavelli translates this quest for power
bat: both are supremely gendered
constructions that involve
into the glorification of the warrior-prince whose prowess in to the conquest of
women."
a notion of manliness that is tied
battle was necessary for the salvation of his native Florence is a woman, and it is
In Machiavelli's own words, "Fortune
in the face of powerful external threats.
necessary if you wish her, to conquer her by force."4
to master
For feminists, warrior-citizenship is neither a negative,
unavoidable characterization of human nature, nor a desir Having constructed these explicitly gendered representa-
tions of virtu and fortuna, Machiavelli also makes it clear
able possibility; it is a revisable, gendered construction of of
that he considers women to be a threat to the masculinity
personality and citizenship. Feminist political theorist Wendy in Ma-
the citizen-warrior. Although they scarcely appear
Brown suggests that Machiavelli's representation of the po- chiavelli's political writings, when |women are discussed,
ilitical world and its citizenry is profoundly gendered; it is 25
Machiavelli portrays them as both dangerous and inferior.
dependent on an image of true manliness that demands
a state is to bej
that superior to those that naturally inhere in he most dangerous thrat to both a man and
qualities are
l+kea woman because women are weak, fearful, indecisiye,
men. Hannah Pitkin claims that for Machiavelli triumph in |
and dependen-stereotypes that, as described chapter
in 1,"
war, honor and'Tibefty in civic life, and independent critical
still surface when assessing women 5 SuÍtabiiyfor the mili- i
thought and manliness in personal relationships are all bound
together by a central preoccuption with autonomy, a char taryand theconduct-oforeign poliçytoday.
does not em-
acteristic associatedwith masculinity.20 True manliness, de While contemporary international relations
**

manded of the deal citizen-warrior, is encompassed in the ploy this explicitly misogynist discourse, the contemporary
understanding of citizenship stillrematns bound up with the
concept "virtu," which literal'sense, manly
means, in its
Greeks and Machiaveti"'s deptctions of the citizen-warrior.
activity. For Machiavelli, virtu is insight, energetic activity,
man's The most noble sacrifice a citizen can make is to give his life
effectiveness, and courage: it demands overcoming a for his country. When the National Qrganization for Women
self-indulgence and laziness2 decided to support the drafting of women into the United
Just asthe concept of hegemonic masculinity, described in States military, it argued its case dn the grounds that, it
an oppositional rela-
chapter requires for its construction
1, Women were barred from participation in the armed forces
to a devalued femininity,
Machiavelli's construction
tionship on an equal footing with men, they|would remain second
devalued "other
of the citizen-warrior required asimilarly
which true manhood and autonomy could be set. In
class citizens denied the unique pqlitical responsibility of
risking one's life for the state.26 But in spite of
against women's
Machiavelli's writings this feminine other is "fortuna," orig- in the armed forces
with capriciousness and increasing numbers in noncombat roles
a Roman goddess associated
inally
39
38
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR

ot certain states, the relationship between soldiering, mas- to all women as well as to certain men. In the United States,
culinity, and
citizenship remains very strong in most soci- nowhere is this more evident than ín the political arena
eties today. where "political man's" identity is importantly tied to his
To be a
soldier is to be a
woman;/more
man, not a than service in the military, Sheila Tobias suggests that there are
lany other sociall institution, the military separates men from risks involved för pofticians seeking office who have chosen
Women. Soldierjng is a role into which not to serve in combat or for women who cannot serve. War
school and on the boys are socialized in

playing fields. A soldier must be a protec- service is of special value for gaining votes even in political
tor; he must show courage, strength, and offices not exclusively concerned with foreign policy. In the
responsibility and
repress feelings|of fear, vulnerability, and compassion. Such United States, former generals are looked
upon favorably as
feelings are womanly traits, which are liabilities in time of presidential candidates, and many American presidernts have
war.27 War demands manliness; it is an event in which boys run for office on their war record. In the
1984 vice presiden-
become men, for combat is the ultimate test of tial debates between
George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro,
masculinity.
When women Hecome soldiers, this gender identity is called Bush talked about his
experience as a navy pilot shot down
into question; fþr Americans, this questioning became real in World War II; whlte this
might seem like a dubious quali-
during the Persian Gulf war of 1991, the first time that women fication for the office of vice president, it was one that Fer-
soldiers were sent into a war zone in large numbers. raro-to her detriment-could not counter."
To be a first-class citizen therefore, one must be a warrior.
To understarjd the citizen-warrior as a social construction
allows us to qhestion the essentialist connection between It is an
important qualification for the politics of national
war and men' natural aggressiveness: Considerable evi- security for it is to such men that the state entrusts its most
dence suggests| that most men vital interests.
would prefer not to fight; Characteristics a_sociated with femininity are
many refuse toj do so even when they are put in positions considered liability when dealing with the realities of inter-
a

that make it not to. One study shows that in World national politics.When realists write abott national security,
difficult
War I, on the hverage, only 15 percent of soldiers actually they often do so in abstract and depersonalized terms, yet
fired their weapons in battle, even when threatened by en- they are constructing a discourse shaped out of these gen-
emy soldiers.2 Because military recruiters cannot rely on dered identities. This notion
of.manhood, crucial for uphold-
violent qualities in men, they appeal to manliness and pa- ing the interests of the state, is an image that is frequently
triotic duty. Judith Stiehm avers that military trainers resort extended to-the way in which we
personify the behavior of
to manipulation of men's anxiety about their sexual identity the state itself.
in order to inctease soldiers' willingness to fight. In basic
trainingthe term of utmost derision is to be called a girl or a The Masculine State
lady. The asspciation between men and violence therefore 1To Saddam,' Mr. Cheney wrote on the 2,00 pound bomb
depends not on men's innate aggressiveness, but on the destined for an Iraqi target. 'With appreciation, Dick Che-
construction of a gendered iderntity that places heavy pres- **

ney. "In times of war, the state itself becomes a citizen-

sure on soldiers to prove themselves as men.
Just as the Gfeeks gave special respect to cifizens who had
warriormilitary commanders refer to the enemy as a singu-
lar "he.)The 1991 Persian Gulf war was frequently depicted
proved themselves in war, it is still a special mark of respect
in many societies to be a war veteran, an honor that is denied
as a
personal contest between Saddam Hussein and George

40 41
 WAR
STATE, AND
MAN, THE
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
the modern state was
As described by Charles Tilly,
Bush and described in the Europe. states consolidated
appropriate
ball language.33 When realists describe locker-room
or foot- leaders of nascent
the international be born through war; of r e s o u r c e s and
extfaction
coercive
havior of states more through the contin-
generally, they present us with simi- their power
territories
Success in war
larly masculine images of stag hunts or "ganmes nations the conquest of ever-larger and the building of
play."34 Hans Morgenthau for state surviyal
describea the ued to be imperative in
rivalry of the early Cold War Soviet-American the period of state building
tacle of two giants eying each
penoa as 7the primitive spec- state apparatus.5Throughout
movements have used
nationalist
gendered im-
other with watchful suspicion. the West, establish-
...Both prepare to strike the tirst
aecisive blow, for if one agery that
exhorts masculine heroes to fight for the
collective iden-
does not strike it the other might"* mother country, The
ment and defense of the
More recently, however, neoreansm has depicted states tity of citizens in most states
depends heavily on telling
of independence or
rather differently, as abstract
unitary actors whose actions stories about, and celebration of, wars
are explained through laws that
can be universalized across national liberation and other victories in battle. Na-
great
time and place and whose
internal enaracteristics are irrele- tional anthems are frequently war songs, just
as holidays are
that recall
vant to the operation of these
lawsStates appear to act celebrated with military parades and uniforms
according to some higher rationaty that is presented as great feats in past conflicts. These cqllective historical mem-

individuals
independent of human agenCy. NOWhere in the rational ories are very important for the way in which
power-balancing behavior of states can we find the patriot define themselves as citizens as well as for the way in
which
willing to go to war to defend his women and children in the states command support for their particularly for-
pplicies,
name of national
security./As postsurlcturalist eign policy. Rarely, however, do they include experiences of
relations theorist Bichard-Ashley sgests, the international
ationaliza- women or female heroes.
tion of global politics" has fed to an antihumanism whereby While the functions of twentieth-century states extend well
states, posited unproblematically asunitary actors, act inde-| beyond the provision of national seturity, national security|
pendently of human interests. sA world in which, as issues, particularly in time of war, þffer a sense of shared|
Jean Elshtain observes, "N9.Chilare are ever born,and politicalpurpose lacking in most other areas of public pol-|
nobody ëver dies.. There are
states, and they are what icy.The state continues to derive much of its legitimacy
Is. from îts security function; it is for national security that citizA
Behind this reification of state practices hide social institu- zens are willing to make sacrifices, dften unquestioning
tions that are made and remade by lndividual actions. In Military budgets are the least likely area of public spending
be contested by politicians and the public, who often
reality, the neorealist depictjon.of. the, state as a unitary actor to are

is grounded in the historical practices of.

the.Western state
system:neorealist characterizations of state behavior, in terms
of self-help, autonomy, and power seeking,
privilege char-
acteristics associated with the western construction of mas
culinity.Since the beginning of the state system, the national
Security functions of states have been deeded to us through
gendered images that privilege masculinity.
The Western state. system began in seventeenth-century
manipulated into supporting military spending by linking it
with patriotism. When we think about the state acting.in
matters of national security, we are entering a policy world
almost exclusively inhabited by men.{ Men make national
security policy both inside and outsidethe military.establisb-f
meñt
In the United States, women ha^e entered the military
primarily in the lower ranks. DespiBe growing numbers of

42 43
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
Women in the
r.S. military,
percentage of women of anywhich
at
present has the largest agery, She claims that the discourse employed in profes-
mains a male military establishment, it re- sional and
the United institution. According to an internal review at political debates about U.S. security policy "would
States Naval Academy tourteen years appearto have colonized our minds and to have suúdjugtcd
woman was admitted, reported in the New Yorkafter.
nrst the other ways
Timesof of understanding relations among states."*Cohn
October 10, 1990, a considerable segment of midshipmen, suggests that this discourse has become the only legitimate
faculty, and staff believed that women have no place there.4 response to questions of how best to achieve national secu-
Judith Stiehm suggests that American military leaders think rity; it is a discourse far removed from
of the armed and its deliberations politics and people,
services as "belonging" to men whereas in go on disconnected from the functions
reality they belong to citizens, more than half of whom are they are
supposed to serv/Its powerful claim to legitimacy
rests, in part,
women.2 When women enter the military, their position is on
the way national security. specialists view
the international system.
ambiguous; mern do not want women fighting alongside them,
and the public
perceives the role of wife and mother as less The International
compatible with being a soldier than that of
husband and System: The War of Everyman
father. While hodern
technology blurs the distinction be- Against Everyman
tween combat
and noncombat roles, women are still barred According to Richard Ashley, realists have
reality called"the sovereign state" againstprivileged highera
from combat roles in all militaries, and the functions that
which they have
women perform are less rewarded than those of the fighting posited anarchy understood in a negative way as difference,
forces.Joiningthe debate in the United States in 1991 over ambiguity,and contingency-as a
space that is external and
women suitability for combat, retired U.S. General Robert! dangerous.7 All these characteristics have also been at
Barrow declared, "Women tributed to
give life, sustain life, nurture life.! women
Anarchy is an actual or potential site of
. If you want to make a combat unit
ineffective, assign war. The most common
metaphor that realists employ to
women to it. describe the anarchical international
system is that of the
In the nuclear age military strategy must be planned in seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes's
peacetime, sinde it is hypothesized that there would be no depiction of*******
the staté of nature.
write much about international Afthough
Hobbes did not
time toplan a strategy that involves the use of nuclear weap- politics, realists have applied
his description of individuals' behavior in a
ons once war
has broken out(Nuclear strategy is constructed hypothetical pre-
by civilian national security specialists, far removed from contractual state of nature, which
Hobbes termed the war of
public debate, in a language.that, while it is too esoteric for everyman againsteveryman, to the behavior of states in the
most people to|understand, claims to be rational and objec- international system.*
tive. Carol Cohn argues that strategic Carole Pateman argues that, in all
discourse, with its
emphasis on strength, stability, and rationality, bears an
contemporary discus
sions of the state of nature, the differentiation between the
sexes is
uncanny resemblance to the ideal image of masculinity/Crit- generally ignored, even though it was an important
ics of U.S. nuçlear
strategy are branded as irrational and consideration for contract theorists themselves."
Although
Hobbes did suggest that women as well as men could be free
emotional. In the United States, these "defense intellectuals"
are almost íall and equal individuals in the state of nature, his
white men; Cohn tells us that while their description
language is one of abstraction, it is loaded with sexual im- of human behavior in this environment refers to that of adult

44
45
 MAN, THE STATË,

outside the politi-

something
as Pitkin refers
with nature,
AND WAR associated and ¢ontrolled.
MAN, THE STA TE, larly be subdued poenm by
Machia-

that must
cal world unfinished who lives
constitutive of human long
female figureT r a n s l a t e d
Ass," a
males whose behavior is taken as Golden a
Accord- to "The of Circe,
nature a s a whole by contemporary realist analysis. o n the legend
animals.*

that Hobbes described

in the velli, based m e n int
is similar
ing to Jane Flax, the individuals without any in the forest
world and t u r n s of f o r t u n a
state ofrTtature appearedto c o m e to full maturity this depictin system
as
i n t e r n a t i o n a l politics

engagement with one another; solitary creatures

they were into
of the ihternationa!
d i s o r d e r o r anarchy of Realpolitik,
Any inter-
socialization in interactive behavior. to the the |essence
lacking any
actions they did have led to power struggles
that resulted in
portrayed by realists. Capturing politicsis a c o n t i n u a l
domination o r submission. Suspicion
of others' motives led
Brown suggests
that, for Machiavelli, dëpendernt
dn the
and indeperndence; it is to
to behavior characterized by, aggression, self-interest, quest.for power and for without spurs
the drive_for autonomy.0 In a similar vein, Chrisfinë Di presence.of .an.enemy
all times,
at would
the polity
Stephano uses feminist psychoaFalytic theory to support is
her
greatness energized by fighting a n enemy,
atomistic egoism
claim that the masculine dimension of collapse. other
of nature, which, a n exterior
powerfully underscored in Hobbes's
state
Just as the image of waging
war against
w a r is central
to
she asserts, is built on the foundation of.denied maternity. Machiavelli's writings,
figured centrally in Our historical
"Hobbes abstract man is a creature who is self-possessed the way w e learn about
international relations.
and radically solitary in a crowded and inhospitable
world, deeded to u s through
memories of international politics are
contractual and terms of intervals be-
whose relations with others are unavoidably wars as we mark off time periods in
to
whose freedom consists in the absence of impediments tween conflicts. We learn that dramat|c changes take place in
de-
the attainment of privately generated and understood when the relative
the international
system major wars
after
Sires."51
power of changes. WNars are fought for many reasons;
states
As a model of human behavior, Hobbes's depiction of is presented
individuals in the state of nature is partial at best; certain
yet, frequently, the rationale for fighting wars
feminists have argued that such behavior could be applicable in gendered terms such as the necessity of standing up to
to
to adult males, for if life was to go on for more than one
aggression rather then being pushed around or appearing
only be a sissy or a wimp. Support for wars is often garnered
generation in the state of nature, women must have been
the appeal to masculine characteristics. As Sara
involved in activities such as reproduction and.child.rearing through
Ruddick states, while the masculinitylof war may be a myth,
rather than in warfare. Reproductive_activities requireand
an it is one that sustains both women and men in their support
environment that can providë for.the.survival of infants for violence.54 War isa time when male and female character-
behavtorthät is interactive and nurturing
time
An interntional system that resembles Hobbes's state of istics become polarized; it is a genderingäctivity af a
when the discourse of militarism and|mascülinity permeates
nature is a dangerous environment. Drivenby competition the whole fabric of society.35
for starce resources and mistrust of others motivesin a
system that lacks any legitimate authority, states, like men, As Jean Elshtain points out, war is an experience to which
*****

women are exterior; men have inhabied the world of war in

nustrely on ther Own resources for selt-preservation.* Ma- a way that women have not.6 The history of international
chiavelli offers advice to his prince that is based on similar
assumptions about the international system. Both Pitkin and politics is therefore a history from which women are, for the
Brown note that Machiavelli's portrayal of fortuna is regu- most part, absent. Little material can|be found on women's

46 47
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
roles in MANHE STATE, AND WAR
wars; generally
agents. While war can bethey
are
seen as
a time of
victims, rarely as
for danger and disorder for Machiavelli, the European fe-
as
they step in to do men's jobs, theadvancement for women
battlefront takes male, in contrast to her colonial counterpart, came to repre-
dence, so the Hierarchy remains and women
prece- sent a stable, civilized order in
step aside oncelpeace is restored. are
urged to nineteenth-century represen-
When women tations of British
engage in themselves imperialism.
violence,
riot that is out
it is oftenportrayed as a mob or a food An example of the
way in which these gender identities
of control.7 Movements for peace, which are were
manipulated to justify Western policy with respect to
also part of our the rest of the world
tional way in
history, have not been central to the conven- can also be seen in attitudes toward
Latin America
tem has been
which the evolution of the Western
state sys- teenth century.
prevalent in ithe United States in the
nine
presented to us. International
relations schol- According to Michael Hunt, nineteenth-cen-
ars of the
early twentieth century, tury American images of Latin societ
who wrote depicted a (usually
possibilities|of international law and the positively
the about black) male who was lazy, dishonestand
collective secu- corrupt. A cn-
rity system of the League of Nations, were labeled Crary image that was more positive-a Latin as redeemable
and not taken "idealists" took the form of a fair-skinned senorita
liying in a marginal-
seriously by the more powerful
realisttradi ized society, yet
tion. escaping its degrading effects. Hunt sug
Metaphors, such as Hobbes's state of nature are primarily gests that Americans entered the twentiethcentury with
threeimages of Latin America fostered through legends
concerned with| representing conflictual relations between brought back by American merchants.and diplomats. These
great powers. The images used to describe nineteernth-cen-
tury imperialist projects and contemporary great power rela- legends, perptuated through school texts, cartoons, and
tions with former colonial states are somewhat different.
political rhetoric, were even
incorporated into the views of
policymakers. The three images pictured the Latin as a half-
Historically, colbnial people were often described in terms breed brute, feminized, or infantile. In each
that drew on characteristics case, Americans
associated with women in order stood superior; the first image permitted a
to place them
lqwer in a hierarchy that' put thieir white male predatory aggres-
siveness, the second allowed the United States to assume
colonizers on top. As the European state system
expanded the role of ardent suitor, and the third
outward to conquer much of the world in the nineteenth
need to
justified America's
century, its "civjilizing" mission was frequently described in provide tutelage and discipline. Al these images are
stereotypically gendered term."Colonized peoples were often profoundly gendered: the United States.as a.civilizing. War
rior, a suitor, or a father, and Latin America as a lesser male,
described as being effeminate, masculinity was an attribute a female, ora child.5
of the white
mah, and coloníal order depended on Victorian Such images, although somewhat muted, remain today
stamdards of ma+iliness. Cynthia Enloe suggests that the con- and are
particularly prevalent in the thinking of Western
of
cept "ladýlike behaviOWas one of the mainstays of states when they are dealing with the Third World. In the
imperialist civilization. Like sanitation and Christianity, fem- post-World War II era, there was considerable debate in
inine respectability was meant to convince colonizers and
colonized alike that foreign conquest was right and neces-
Western capitals about the dangers of indepen-
premature
dence for primitive peoples. In the
sary. Masculinity denoted protection of the respectable lady; postindependence ea,
former colonial states and their leaders have frequently been
she
stood for the civilizing mission that justified the coloni-
zation of
portrayed as emotional and unpredictable, characteristics also
benighted peoples. Whereas the feminine stood associated with women. C. D. Jackson, an adviser to Presi

18
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
dent MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
Eisenhower and a
onsts in patron Western
of
evoked these feminine development the
the 1950s, accounts focused only on human nature, feminists might
he
observed that "the characteristics when equally well object that scientific causal analyses of state and
experience with the Western world has somewhat more
system-level phenomena distract ourlattention from the role
operations of war, peace, and parlia-
mentary procedures than the of responsible individuals and
super-charged swirling mess of emotionally
Africans and Asiatics and maintenance of state-level and
groups in the construction
ber us."60 and Arabs that outnum- ystemic relationships.
Power-oriented statesmen have a vested interest vis-à-vis
According to Hunt,
glish-spëaking people ofEisenhower
their domestic
himself regarded the En-
the world as superior around them as
supporters in painting a picture of the world
thus they provideda model for to all the rest; threateningly anarthic; anarchic interna-
national system. This idea is not right behavior in the inter tional systems are
alternatives exist.
reproduced by individuals who believe no
porary realism, which, while incompatible with contem-
it has been
nated by white approach domi-
an Recognizing the gendered construction of this three-tiered
ior of states Anglo-Saxon men, has
prescribed world picture, feminist perspectives on
throughout international system. Asthewebehav-
witnessed the
the
offer altermative conceptions. national secunty must
mutually constitutive andAssuming
enormous buildup of nuclear have that these
part of the
are categories
United States and the former weapons on the other, we should heed Paul mutually reinforcing of each
yond any level that could be considered Soviet Union be- to Fussell's claim, in the epigraph
cymakers caution that "rational," our poli-. this chapter, that our conception| of the possibilities of
the hands of people in only
a few of individual manhood must be
these
the Third World
same
weapons in tice before war redefined in
theory and prac
to world security. pose a greater threat at the international
regarded avoidable. These gendered
as |systemic level can be
In this section, I hàve shown man, the state, and depictions of political
how
tent
three-tiered picture of aworld realists painta consis- the
tional security discourse international system
that privileges conflictgenerate a na-
violence-prone international system in,wbiçhsurvival ina silences other ways of and war and
states peopled by requireswar-capable
heroic masculine citizen-warriors. rom thinking about security; moving away
valonzingAhuman characteristics
ture This pic-
legitimates certain Tealistic portrayals of situations i
the risking of life, towardan that are assOdated with
and conduct at each
level, which serve to reinforce the ties, allows us to envisage affirmatton of life-giying.qual
for power need alternative conceptions of national
balancing, strong states, and citizen-warriors. It security
achieves relative consistency
and
by downplaying the feasibility
attractiveness of alternative National Security Recdnsidered
possibilities at each level of
analysis by claiming that peaceful international systems Certain critics of realism have
idealist are begun to ask whether we canj
utopias, that
non-power-seeking states are soon continue to rely
conquered or diismembered, and that citizens who are
on war as the ultimate instrument for the
not achievement of national security. In a world where
warriors are inéssential to the reproduction of
the state. conflict could result in the destruction|of winners andnuclear
Feminist perspectives should
question the analytical sep- alike (as well as the natural environment), realist loser_
arability of these three levels of analysis, which realists have tions to maximize prescrip
power could actualy be counterproduct
treated as supposedly tive. In the absene of a viable
independent levels or aspects of real- defense, nuclear weapons
ity. If systems-oriented realists criticize reductionist causal make boundary protection impossible) thus the distinctions

5o
51
 MAN, 11HE STATE, AND WAR
between
and domestic and
international, soldiers and
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR

protectors and protected civilians, gimes in power, has led to the legitimation of states fre
the
lndependent Commission
are
breaking down In 1982
Issues warned {hat, after Disanmament and Security
on quently depending on their recognition by the internatonal
thirty-seven Community rather-than by their domestic populations." These
nuclear deter
rence was
to
becorming fragile because of years,
decreased sensitivity
a
trends, together with the winding down of some significant
dangers, thel possibility of accidents in crisis situations, international conflicts in the late1980s, suggest that we may
and new
of limited
technologies that may be increasing the possibility be moving toward a system characterized by international
order and domestic disorder, a situation that could turn the
nuclear war.2Un the nuclear age, the fact that the traditional notion of national security on its head.
security of states depends on the insecurity.of their citizens
has stretched the traditional- concept of
national security to Acknowledging these multiple sources of insecurity, var
ious new thinkers have come up with
its limit. very different defini-
tions of security. In the introduction to the
Critics of realism argue that a more
global vision of secu- Report of the
rity is necessaryThe extent to which realism has been able Independent Commission on Disarmamentand Securily ls
sues Qlof Palme defines security in terms of joint survival
justify its distinction between domestic order and interna-
to
rather tnan mutual destruction. The commission defines
tional anarchy depends on its
tocus.on the major actors.in
i the international system. Internally, most Western states have
what it calls "common security" in terms that extend well
beyond nuclear strategic issues. It looks at security in North-
been relatively peaceful since World WarII, if peace is nar South as well as East-West terms;
rowly defined as the absence of military conflict. Thinking focusing on military con-
flict in the Third World,
about security from a global perspective must take into ac-
new
thinking points to possible
contradictions between the military security of states and the
count that 90 percent of the' military conflicts of the 1970s
economic well-being of their itizens. The Palme Report notes
and 1980s took place in the Third World; many were
domes thata growing militaizaion ofE Hhe Third World has drained
tic, some international
and some, particularly when the great
resources that might otherwise be used for economic devel-
powers were involved, blurred the distinction between the
two.s Security | threats have
opment
traditionally
been defined as VWhen we consider security from the perspective of the
threats to national boundaries, but since the end of the pro- individual, we find that new thinking is beginning to pro-
cess of decolonialization, relatively few cross-border wars vide us with definitions of security that are less state-cen-
and changes in international boundaries have occurred, in tered and less militaristicButlittle attention has been paid
spite of the large number of military conflicts. For people in or
eitherto gender issues to women's particular needs with
the Third World, as well as in Eastern Eutope and, more respect to securityor to their contributions toward its
recently, in the| states of the former Soviet Union, security achievement.(Feminist reformulahons of the meaning of se-
threats have often been internal. Repression by regimes re- curity are needed to draw attention to the extent to which
acting against ethnic minorities or popular discontent creates gender hierarchies themsdlves are a source of domination
a situation in which states can become threats to, rather than and thus an obstacle to a truly comprehensive definition of
of mucha of
providers of, sequrity. The militarization**** the Third
xe*****"
security I shall ñow turn tothe issue ofhow 'women might
World, often with weapons supplied by great powers whose define ñational security and to an analysisof sëcurity from a
interests frequently coincide with keeping unpopular feminist perspectivel)
-* .

52 53
 WAR
STATE, AND
MAN, THE
if it was
nothing
meant
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR tHat security
all agreed
sexism. Yet to
Review'
insecurity. Conference

Feminist Perspectives on National Security byilt o n others

document of the
World Nations
De-

The final the Achievemenfs of the United

offered a similarly
Women Define Security and Appraise Nairobi in 1985,
held in The i n t r o d u c t o r y
cadefor Women, security
t is difficult to find definitionstheby women of
national secu definition of "not only as
the
not multidimensional eace
rity While it is not necessarily case that women
have document
defined
national and
ideas on this subject, they are
not readily
accessible in chapter of the violence and hostilities at the and
had
the literature of international relations When women speak absence of war, of economic
also the enjoyment
they are often dismissed
as international levels but take issue
or write about national security, All these definitiorns of security and m u s t
Anexample of this is the women social justice."68 zero-sum
unrealistic) assumptions that security is
being naive or
out in the early w i t h realists'
in the United States and Europe who spoke others.
order.
for a m o r e secure world Address-, therefore be built o n the insecurity of which deem-
years of the century security,
Hague dur-i Jane Addams's Vision of national| w a s dismissed at the
ing the International Congress of Women the
at
dimension and
phasizes its military
ing World War 1, Jane Addams spoke the.need for.a.neèw.
of with the n e w think-
time as impractical, is quite compatible
internationalism to replace the self-destructive nationalism
mass de- I have just described. Like women
that contributed so centrally to the outbreak and ing o n c o m m o n security
contemporary new,
struction of that war. Resolutions adopted at the close of the at the Halifax and Nairobi conferentes, v1olence in
that women, and civil- thinkers also include the elimination pi structural
congreaS quesioned the assumption
ians more generally, could be protected during modern
war.
theirdefinition of security Feminist peace researcher Elise
The conference concluded that assuring security through Boulding tells us that women peace researchers among& were

of security)
military m e a n s w a s no longer possible owing to
the indis- the pioneers in this contemporary redefinition
warfare, and it called for disar- of the century,
criminate nature of modern although, like Jane Addams at the beginning deserved. It is
future their work did rot receive the attention it
mament as a more appropriate course
for. ensuring
not receive
security.c6 / often the case that new ideas in any discipline do
(At the Women's International Peace Conference in Hali-
i

widespread atterntion unless they are adoptedworkby significant

in 1985, a meeting of women from alI over thne tends to
fax, Canada, numberS.ot.men,.in..which case wpmen's
world, participants defined security in various ways depend- that
become invisible through co-optation. Boulding claims
ing on the most immediate threats to their survival,security the one area T whtch of
women are in
not danger co-opta-
meant safe working.conditions and freedom from the threat tion is their analysis of patriarchy and the linkage of war to
ofwar or unemployment or the economic squeeze of föreigi violenceagainst women.69 Like most|other feminists, Bould-
debty Discussions of the meaning of security revealed divi ing believes that these issues must also be included in any
sions between Western middle-cass women'sconcerngwith comprehensive definition of security.
nuclear war, concerns that were similar to those of Jane Given these various definitions security offered by
pf
Addams and her colleagues, and ThirdWorld women who women, it is evident that feminist perspectives on security
defined insecurity more broadly in terms of the structural would grow out of quite different assumptions about the
violence associated with imperialism, militarism, racism, and individual, the state, and the international systemi Using
**

54 55
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
feminist literaturd from various
suggest what some ofdisciplines
shall now and
look like. these approaches.
perspectives
Reexamining the Anarchy/Order Distinction
The
latter
pervasiveness of internal conflict within states in the
part of the fwentieth century and
the threats that mili-
tarized states
pose to their own populations have called into
question the realist assumption about the
tinction. Critics df realism have also anarchy/order dis-
questioned the unitary
actor assumption that renders the domestic affairs of states
unproblematic when talking about their international behav-
ior.|Claiming that militarism. sexism, and racism are inter-
connected, most feminists would agree that the behavior of
individuals and [the domestic policies of states cannot be
separated from slates behaviorin the internationalsystem.70
Feminists call attention to the particular vulnerabilities of
women within sthtes, vulnerabilities that grow out of hierar-
chical gender relations that are also interrelated with inter
national politics. (Calling into question the notion of the "pro-
tected," the Natibnal Organization for Women in their "Res-
olution on Wonen in Combat" of
September 16, 199o,
estimated that do-90 percent of casualties due to conflict
since World War|have.beencivilians, the.majoriky.ofwhom.
have been women and childrenj n miitarized societies women
are particularly yulnerableo rape, and evidence suggests
that domestic violence is higher in military tamilies or in
families that include men with prior military service. Even
Though most pyblic violence is committed by men against
other men, it is more often women who feel threatened in
public places." ill Radford suggests that when women feel
it
is unsafe to go out alone, their equal access to job opPor
Tunities is limited.7 Studies also show that violence against
Women increases during hard economic times; when states
prioritize militafy spending or find themselves in debt,
56
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
might shrinking resources are often accompanied by violence against
women.
Feminist theories draw our attention to another anarchy
order distinction-the boundary between a public domestic
"space protected, at least theoretically, by the rule of law and
the private space of the family wherein many cases, no
such legal protection exists.In most statés domesticviolence
isHotcortSTdered concern of the statey and even when it is,
Taw enforcement officials are often unwilling to get involved.
Domestic assaults on women, often seen asviCn prec!p
tated, are not taken as seriously as criminal assaults. Maria
/EAnk(e. Mies argues that the modernization process in the Third
World, besides sharpening class conflict, has led to an in
crease in violence against women in the home as traditional
social values are broken downWhile
poor women probably
suffer the most from family violence, a growing women' s
movement in India points to an increase in violence against
educated middle-cdass women also, the most extreme form
of which
is dowry murder when young brides are found
dead in suspicious circumstances. Eager to marry off their
daughters, families make promises for dowries that exceed
their means and that they are subsequently unable to
pay.
n 1982 there were 332 cases of "accidentalburning"of women
in.New Delhi; many morecases of "dowry deathsg0unre-
ported.
Recent studies of family violence in the United States and
Western Europe have brought to lightsimilar problems. When
the family is violence-prone, it is frequently beyond the reach
of the law; citing a 1978 report of the California Commission
on the Status of Women, Pauline Gee documents that in
1978 one-quarter of the murders in the United States oc-
curred within the family, one-half.of these being husband-
wife killings. Much ofthisfamily violence takes place oulside
the sanction of the legal system,it has been estimated that
ony 2 percent of men who beat their wives or female livin
partners are ever prosecuted."
 MAN, THE STAT
that
citizenship
of
enrichcd
version on an
equal
more

of an and
no-
c o n s t r u c t i o n

military
values Such a
AND WAR the on to society.
MAN, THE STATE, less myths
would depend contributions
however, until
that this line, which
demarcales publiC of
women's

abodt, than agents

Maria Mies argues ol recognition come
rather
violence, the rule
cannot
victims
private, separates state-regulated
citizenship as
and tion of of
women

punishniernts, views

right for which thereare legally sanctioned perpetuate

with
peace,

maleviolence, the rule of mightThefor which, in, many that

are eliminated. of w o m e n consider
and ruleofmight.and the
associatiom
through
such legal sanctions.exist.
One such myth is invaliäated
SOcienes,no
are-descriptions that have also
been used in that has
been
men's wars in m a n y
right
the rule of an associationof w o m e n ' s support fora plurality of
to distinguish the
interrna- women
relations"discourse
international to the
spheres. By drawing
o u r attention
able evidenceIn spite of a
gender gap, policies; Bernice
tional and domestic realm of family violence that is often SOcieties.7 n a t i o n a l security is
and
frequently forgotten to the war and peace
beyond the reach of
the law, these feminists point generally support
that the associatiorn of women disarmed

across all levels

their
interrelationship.of.violenceand oppression Carroll suggests on women by
imposed been the
security would assume hasthat
of analysis.tFeminist perspectives on
one assaciation.grew-aut.of,

national, or In the West, this and the

that violence, whether it be in the international, mnust be
condition.* moral superiority
snercónneced. Family
violence
Victorian ideology.
of women's w a s expressed
by
family rëalm relations; it o c c u r s within motherhood.
of
This ideal was
in the context of wider pow r glorification bok Herland
seen
whose
gendered society in which male power
dominates at all feminist Charlotte. Perkins.Gilman
a
seen as protectors, a n impoT- Forerunner_in 1915. Gilman glorified.
levels."If men are traditionally firstserialized in The whose private sphere
w o m e n against certain
tant aspect of this role is protecting women as caring
nurturing mothers and
Most turn-of-th -
benefit the,world at large.1
therefore
men.
Any feminist definition of security, must including| skills ould
But if the implica-
include the elimination of all types of violence, çentury feminists shared Gilman's ideas.
w e r e disqualified
from
and of this view w a s that women
violence produced.bygender relations of domination tion
subordination. The achievement of this comprehensive
vi- in the corrupt world political and economic df
participating could
requires a rethinking.of the way.in which} virtue of their moral superiority, the result
sio ofecurity power by Many contemm
citizenship has traditionally been defined, as wellasalterna- only of male dominance.
be the perpetuation these
tive models for describing the behavior of states in the inter-| in the continuation of
feminists see dangers
porary
that c a n only result in the perpetuationa
national'system. essentializing myths
dualisms that s e r v e
of women's subordination and reintorce
Citizenship Redefined of femininity
to make m e n more powerful.(The association
notion of hegemonic masculinity, the notion with peace lends support to an idealized
masculinity that
Building on the for victims in need
of the citizen-warrior depenas on a devalued femininity depends o n constructing w o m e n as passive
that w o m e n a r e
its construction. In international relations,
this devalued of protection)It also contributes to the claim
femininity is bound up with myths about
women as victims
naive in matters relating to international politics. An en-
myth contrib- cannot be built
in need of protection; the protector/prõtected riched,less militarized notion of citizenship
utes to the of a militarized version of citizenship
legitimation on such.a weak foundation.
men's
that resultsin unequal gender relations that can precipitate While women have often been willing to support
feminists have called for
Violence against w o m e n . Certain wars, many w o m e n are ambivalent|about fighting in then,

s8
59
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
often THE STATE, AND WwAR
preferring |to leave that task to
also been
MAN,

of divided on this issue; some men. Feminists have during the military dictatorship, experienced
similar empow
equality, that|women must be argue, on the grounds erment. Sara Ruddick suggests conscripting
women in the

military, while given equal access to the interests of peace; Ruddick claims that while caring for chil
draft in order qthers suggest that women must dren is not "natural" for women, it has been a womanly
Fesist"the
women's equaltolpromote politics of pëace. In arguing
a
believes is an
access to the
for practice in most societies and one that she defines ma-
poses that sodety
a
military, Judith Stiehm pro- important resource for peace politics.86 Ruddick
composed of citizens equaiy TIkely to ternal thinkingas focused on the preservation of life and the
experience
be
violence and be
responsible for its exercise would growth of children. Maternal practice requires the mode
peaceful
stronger and
more desirable. Stiehm claîms that'if every- settlement of disputes; since she feels that it is a of
one, women
and men alike, were protectors, less justifica- thinking to be found in men as well as women, it is one that
tion for immoral
acts would be found; with less emphasis on could beuseful for a politics of peace were it to be validated
the manliness of
war, new questions about its morality could
****

be raised. She
in the public realm.
suggests that womens. enhanced role in the In spite of many women's support for men's wars, a con-
military could leai to a new concept of cizenrdefender rather sîstent gender gap in voting on defense-related issues in
than warior-pattiot. many countries suggests that women are less supportive of
Uust as the notion of a soldier as a wife and mother policies that rest on the use of direct violence Before the
changes
our imagé of soldiering, citizen-defenders change our image outbreak of the Persian Gulf war in 1990, women in the
of war. Citizen-defenders are quite compatible with what United States were overwhelmingly against the use of torce
Stephen Nathanton, in his redefinition of the meaning of and, for the first time, women alone turned the public opin-
patriotism, calls a moderate patriot. Rather than the tradi- ion polls against optingfor war."
During the 1980s, when
tional view of the Reagan administration was increasing defense budgets,
påtriotism built on aggression and
war, Na of
thanson suggests thinking of patriotism as support for one's women were lesslikely to suppoE defenseatthe expense
holds
own nation whil notinflicting harm on others.5 Such patri- SOCial programsa pattern that, in the United States,
otism could be consistent with a defensive strategy in war if true for women's behavior more generally.
everyone were to comply. (Explanations for this gender gap, which in the United

Discarding the association betweer
allows us to thihk of women as activists fof he kind of
change needed fo achieve the multidimensional security I
have already diseussed. Even if not all women are pacifists,
peace is an.issuç that. ,women can supRert in their various
roles as mothers| war victims, and preservers of states' and
the world's good healtH"Women at Greenhám Common
demonstrating against the installation of cruise missiles in
Britain in 1981 ¢ame to see themselves s strong, brave,
andcreative-experiences frequently confined to men.
Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, demonstrating during
1980s in support bf those who had disappeared in Argentina
en and pacifism States appears to be increasing as time goes on, range from
Suggestions that women have not been socialized into the
practice of violence to claimsthat women are increasingly
voting their own interests. Whie holding down jobs, mil-
lions of women also care. for children, the aged, and the
sick-activities that usually take place outside the economy.
When more resources go to the military, additional burdens
on such women as sector resources for
public
are placed
social services shrink. While certain women are able, through
The access to the military, to giveservice totheir country, many
the more are in these traditional care-giving roles. A
serving
feminist challenge to the traditional definition of patriotism

61

TTTTNE
 WAR
MAN, THE MAN, THE STATE, AND
STATE, AND WAR
should therefore by the
to |these territories
question the meaning ot scrvice to one s itants to inuform them of claims the
country.In its leaders,
contrast to a citizenship that
rests on the as United States. Although unanticipated by
Sumption that it is more
glorious to die than to live for one's presence of a woman served to assufe
the native inhabitants
state, Wendy Brown the Native Americans
suggests that a more that the expedition was peaceful since
of constructive
citizenship could center on the courage to sustain life.viewIn assumed that would not include women: the
Similar terms, Jean Elshtain
war parties
asserts the need to move toward expedition was therefore safer it
becatuse
was not armed.
a
politics that shifts the focus of political loyalty and story demonstrates that the|introduction
of women
from identity This
sacrifice to responsibility.* Only when women's contri-! can
change the way humans are askumed to behave in the
butions to society the
are seen as
equal to men's can these Tecon- state of nature. Just as Sacajawea's presence changed
structed visions of citizenship
come about. Native American's expectations about the behavior of intrud-
ers into their territory, the introdudtion of women into our
Feminist Perspectives on States' state-of-nature myths could change the way we think about
Security-Seeking Behavior the behavior of states in the internatjonal system. The use of
Realists have offered us an instrumental version the Hobbesian analogy in internatipnal relations theory is
of states'
security-seeking behavior, which, I have argued, depends based on a partial view of human nature that is stereotypi-
on a partial representation of human behavior
associated cally masculine; a more inclusive perspective
would see hu-
with a stereotypical hegemonic man nature both conflictual and|cooperative, containing
as
masculinity. Feminist redefi
nitions of citizenship allow us to elements of social reproduction and jnterdependence as well
envisageéa less militarized
version of states' identities, and feminist theories can also as
domination and separation. Generalizing from this more
propose alternative models for states' international security- comprehensive view of human nature, a feminist perspective
seeking behavior, extrapolated from a more
comprehensive would assume that the potential for
international community
view of human behavior. also exists and that an atomistic, conflictual view of the inter-
Realists use state-of-nature stories as metaphors.to. de- national system is only a partial representation of reality.
****
scribe the insecurity of states in an anarchical-international Liberal individualism, instrumental rationality
the of the
system. T shall suggest an alternative story, which could marketplace, and the defector's selffhelp approach in Röus-
equally be applied to the behavior of individuals in the state seau's stag hunt are all, in analagous ways, based on a
of nature. Although: frequently
unreported in standard his- partiatmascüline model of human behavior.2
torical accounts, it is a. true story, not a These characterizations of human behavior, with their
myth, about a state atomistic view of human society, do hot assume the need for
of nature in
early nineteenth-century America. Among those
present in the first winter encampment of the 1804-1806 interdependence and cooperation. Yet states frequently ex-
Lewis and Clark expedition into the Northwest territories hibit aspects of cooperative behavidr when they engage in
was Sacajawea, a member of the Shoshone tribe. Sacajawea diplomatic negotiations. As Cynthia Enloe states, diplomacy
had joined the expedition as the wife of a French interpreter; runs smoothly when there is trust and confidence between
her presence was proving invaluable to the security of the officials representing governments with conflicting interests.
She suggests that many agreements are negotiated infor
expedition's members, whose task it was to explore
charted territory and establish contact with the native inhab-
un-
mally in the residences of ambassadors where the presence
of diplomatic wives creates an almosphere in which trust can

62 63
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
best be
cultivated As Enloe
concludes, women, often in
positions that arel
Vital to
creating
unremunerated or
undervalued, remain
hostile world. dnd maintaining trust between men in a can worldview where the individual is seen as part of the
Given the
intendependent nature of contemporary secu-
rity threats, new thinking on security has
that autonomy and self-help, as models for already assumed
state behavior in
theinternational system, must be rethought and redefined.
Many feminists would àgree with this, but given
Sumption that interdependence is as much humantheir
as-
a charac-
teristic as autonomy,
they would question whether auton-
omy is even
desinable. Autonomy is associated with mas
culinity just as femininitý is associated with interdependence:
in her discussion öf the birth of modern science in the sev-
enteenth century Evelyn Keller links the rise of what she
terms a masculine science with a
striving for objectivity,
auton omy, and dontrol.6 Perhaps not coincidentally, the
seventeenth centiury also witnessed the rise of the modern
state systenm Sinte this period, autonomy and separation,
importantly associated with the meaning of sovereignty, have
determined our conception of the national interest. Betty
|Reardon argues that this association of autonomy witlh the.
national interest tends to blind us to the realities of interde-
pendence in the present world situation. Feminist perspec
fives would thus assume that striving for attachment is also
part of human nature, which, while it has been suppressed
by both modern scientific thinking and the practices of the
Western state system, can be reclaimed and revalued in the
future.
Evelyn Keller argues for a form of knowledge that she
calls "dynamic objectivity. . . that grants to the world around
us its independeht integrity, but does so in a way that re-
mains cognizant of, indeed relies on, our connectivity with
that world."98 Keller's view of dynamic objectivity contains
with what Sandra Harding calls an African world-
parallels
view. Harding tells us that the Western liberal notion of
instrumentally rational economic man, similar to the notion
MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR
rational political man upon which realism has based its
of
theoretical investigations, does not make sense in the Afri
social order and as acting within that order rather than upon
it. Harding believes that this view of human behavior has
much in common with a feminist perspective; such a vicw of
human behavior could help us to begin to think from a more
global perspective that appreciates cultural diversity but at
the same time recognizes a growing interdependence that
makes anachronistic the exclusionary thinking fostered by
the state system.
Besides a reconsideration of autonomy, feminist theories
also offer us a different definition of power that could be
for thinking about the achievement of the type of
useful
positive-sum security that the women at The Hague and in
Halifax and Nairobi described as desirable. Hannah Arendt,
frequently cited by feminists writing about power, defines
power as the human ability to act in concert or action that is
taken with others who share similar concerns.100 This defini-
tion of power is similar to that of psychologist David Me-
Clelland's portrayal of female power which he describes as
shared rather than assertive Jane Jaquette argues that,
since women have had lessl access to the instruments of
coercion (the way power is usually used in international
relations), women have more often used persuasion as a way
of gaining power through coalition building.107 These writers
are conceptualizing power as mutual enablement rather than
domination. While not denying that the way power is fre-
quently used in international relations comes closer to a coer
cive mode, thinking about power in these terms is helpful
for devising the cooperative solutions necessary for solving
the security threats identified in the Halifax women's defini-
tions of security.
These different views of human behavior as models for
the international behavior of states point us in the direction
of an appreciation of the "other" as a subject whose views
are as legitimate as our own, a way of thinking that has been
65
 MAN, THE STATE, AND WAR

about providing for their

own
sadly lacking as states go that are based on the
security. Using feminist perspectives
have constructed some
I
experiences and behavior of women,
hierarchical dichotom-
models of human behavior that avoid
and difference; these alter-
ization and that value ambiguity
stead as we seek to
native models could stand us in good
vision of global security.
construct a gendered
less
natienal security take us beyond
Feminist perspectives on allow us to see that
realism's statist representations. They
security constructed out of
a
national is
the realist view of
a partial view of
masculinized discourse that, while
it is only
definitions of security
reality, is taken as
universal. Women's
aremultilevel and multidimensional.
Women have defined
of violence whether it be military,
security as the absence
economic, Not until the hierarchical social rela-
or sexual)
that have been hidden by.
tions, including gerkder relations,
discourse are brought to
realism's frequently depersonalized
a language of national secu-
light can we begin construct
to

rity that speaks out of the multiple experiences of both women

sees all these
and men, As I have argued, feminist theory
as interrelated. I shall turn
next to the
violence
types of
economic dimension of this multidimensional perspective on
security.

utes udu delabners hu to alleA

kitdty" al ahohal|dsusbic

66