Pacifist Angels vs. Warrior Queens

September 12, 2013

Department Speakers Series

Sylvia Bashevkin, FRSC
Professor, Department of Political Science

Pacifist Angels vs. Warrior Queens:
Approaches to the use of force by US women foreign policy leaders

In a 2011 book titled The Better Angels of our Nature, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker asserted the presence of more women leaders would make the world a more peaceful place. He grounded this claim in concepts of maternal protection and, more specifically, an argument that throughout human history, motherly roles have encouraged females to favour calm, stable conditions in which to nurture the next generation. On the other side of the proverbial fence, historians including Antonia Fraser chronicle the willingness of female leaders to engage in conflict behaviour to the point of commanding armies into battle. Although relatively few ‘warrior queens’ held power in the centuries from Cleopatra to Boudica to Margaret Thatcher, their simple existence cast doubt on assumptions that all women share a calm, peaceful nature. This paper examines the track records of contemporary women foreign policy elites in the US in light of ongoing debates concerning the associations among men/masculinity/war and women/femininity/peace.

 

To read more about Sylvia Bashevkin click here:

Professor Sylvia Bashevkin

 

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