Women as foreign policy leaders: national security and gender politics in superpower America
2019; Oxford University Press; Volume: 95; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ia/iiz124
ISSN1468-2346
Autores Tópico(s)Gender, Security, and Conflict
ResumoJeane Jordan Kirkpatrick became the first woman to hold a foreign policy cabinet executive position when she was appointed President Ronald Reagan's ambassador to the United Nations in 1981. She was instrumental in shaping US foreign policy under President Reagan. As its title suggests, this book highlights the role of women as key decision-makers in US foreign policy since 1980, and tries to answer the question: what difference did four women, in particular, make to US foreign policy when they served in top positions of the Executive branch? In this interesting and easily read book, Sylvia Bashevkin focuses on the first four women who served in such Executive roles. She looks at the tenures of Jeane Kirkpatrick and Madeleine Albright as US ambassadors to the UN, Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton as secretaries of state, and Condoleezza Rice as National Security Advisor. Research on women in government tends to focus more on the Legislative branch than the Executive branch. This is most likely because a much smaller number of women have served in Executive branch positions, but the feminist movement's identity as a ‘leaderless movement’ may have also created a reluctance to study women leaders. In her book, Bashevkin specifically focuses on the executive branch and attempts to highlight the impact of these four female decision-makers. The case-study chapters provide a stimulating narrative, combining historical events and processes with the upbringing and personal experiences of each individual woman.
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