The gendered state in international relations1

Johanna Kantola

Chapter 10 in Handbook on Gender in World Politics, 2026, pp 58-63 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter surveys the evolution of feminist theories of the state within International Relations (IR). It moves beyond early concerns with women's exclusion from state power to more complex analyses that conceptualize the state as a non-essential entity, continuously reproduced through gendered, racialized, and sexualized discourses and material practices. The analysis traces the theoretical progression from liberal, radical, and Marxist critiques of the patriarchal or capitalist state towards contemporary poststructuralist and intersectional frameworks. These latter approaches deconstruct the state as a set of processes rather than a unified actor, exposing how fictions of sovereignty and the domestic/international divide are performatively maintained. The chapter highlights how gender is not merely impacted by the state, but is constitutive of the state itself. It also incorporates postcolonial critiques and renewed materialist perspectives focused on biopolitics. Finally, it situates these debates in the current context of neoliberalism, which reconfigures state power and compels new forms of feminist engagement. This has given rise to concepts like ‘market feminism’, reflecting feminist adaptation to a landscape where market logics increasingly permeate governance, transforming feminist struggles and their relationship with the state.

Keywords: State; Feminist Theories of the State; Patriarchy; Neoliberalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781803923765
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