The Potential of Positioning

Erin Aylward

Feminist analyses of International Political Economy (IPE) currently face a significant epistemological challenge. By seeking to engage with mainstream political economists, feminist IPE scholars have narrowed the interdisciplinary approach that is common in most contemporary feminist scholarship to instead focus almost exclusively on the effects of neoliberal globalization. However, this focus has proved unsuccessful in garnering the interest of most mainstream international political economists and has isolated these scholars from feminist research in other disciplines. This paper argues that feminist IPE could gain significant leverage within its field by employing an interdisciplinary approach that links broader feminist issue such as violence against women to political economy. This is examined by reviewing some of the major feminist works in IPE and assessing their reception within the field of IPE. Next, the potential for broader feminist issues to garner mainstream attention in IPE is assessed by evaluating the economic implications of violence against women. In altering their epistemology to include a broader feminist analysis, feminist IPE scholars can effectively illustrate the need for feminist analysis in IPE while also wedding their research to the rich, interdisciplinary research of feminists in other fields.

Political Science; Politics International Political Economy; Feminism