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Feminism and International Relations: Towards a Political Economy of Gender in Interstate and Non-Governmental Institutions. By Sandra Whitworth. New York: St. Martin's, 1994. 184p. $39.95.
Sandra Whitworth's Feminism and International Relations is a welcome addition to a new and fast-growing literature that is beginning to incorporate gender analysis into international relations theory. Using the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Manned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) as case studies, it makes a compelling case in support of the claim that an analysis of changes in their attitude toward gender relations over time is necessary for a complete understanding of the evolving policies of those institutions. Such empirical investigations are a step forward in testing some of the theoretical claims made by recent feminist approaches to international relations. Even if Whitworth's assertion that "the 'next step' of IR theory will not be one which is merely 'critical', but one which is both critical and feminist" (p. 56) might be somewhat overdrawn, certainly Feminism and International Relations provides a convincing argument for the importance of incorporating feminist analysis into the new critical literatures in international relations.
Feminism and International Relations begins by providing a critical review of a variety of recent feminist approaches to...