Feminists around the world are making the case that the personal is political is international.

What is distinctive about a feminist perspective on international relations is its methodology. It starts from a particular, located observation and then tries to understand the patterns of international relations. This opens up a range of new topics in international relations and means that more views can be heard. It’s vital for feminist scholarship to engage with those being researched.

A current issue is the resurgence of hypermasculine approaches to international politics, where strong masculine leaders are being seen as providing leadership. By contrast, countries like Sweden and Canada have explicitly feminist foreign policies. This makes gender issues highly visible in international politics.

The AIIA for WA’s Flavia Bellieni Zimmerman interviewed Professor Jacqui True and Maria Tanyag at the IPSA World Congress 2018 in Brisbane.

Professor Jacqui True FASSA is Professor of Politics and International Relations, Director of the Monash Gender, Peace and Security Centre and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University.

Dr Maria Tanyag is Research Fellow at the Monash University Gender, Peace and Security Centre.

Interview by Flavia Bellieni Zimmermann.

Video by Gavin Mount.

Editing by Tommy Chai.