Women Leaders in International Relations and World Peace

Abstract

The realist school of international relations holds that domestic structure yields small influence over war, peace, and foreign relations, while the liberal school has introduced a wide variety of factors – the effects of democracy, leadership personality, societal structure, culture, and historical memory – that can potentially alter the traditional reasons behind the way states operate. The question hence arises: What is so different in the actions and influence between male and female actors in the international system? And, further, what are the dynamics of women’s roles in international organizations and in international business? Factors ranging from religion to political culture to pejorative assumptions often play key roles in women’s leadership opportunities and women’s leadership in practice. This collection of essays is based on presentations made at a panel convened by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University on the subject of “Women Leaders in International Relations and World Peace,” and explores these questions and related dynamics.