The contributions of decoloniality to feminist narratives in International Relations: approaches for possible approaches to international cooperation

Abstract

The main motivation that guides this article is the need to contribute to broadening and deepening the objects of study addressed by feminist perspectives in international relations.  This is for two related reasons: firstly, to contribute to the process of ontological revisionism of the discipline that has been inaugurated by these kinds of approaches; and, secondly, to contribute to the visibility of international practices and dynamics that perpetuate logics of subordination and exclusion towards different corporeality based on the matrix of colonial, capitalist and patriarchal domination.

This article departs from the premise that international cooperation is a complex and multidimensional object of study that has historically been approached by the liberal tradition of international relations (Pereyra Rodríguez, 2014). Gradually, different approaches to the discipline began to inquire about the motives, procedures and outcomes as a result of the growing importance that these interactions acquired as fundamental dynamics of international relations. In the framework of the academic literature on feminisms, international cooperation has received less attention with respect to another set of processes associated with development, conflicts, and peace and security. In this sense, the purpose of this article is to contribute to the problematization of international cooperation from feminist perspectives broadly, and from decolonial feminism in particular.  This will be done in a systematic way based on the methodology of documentary review.

It is important to state that in the field of international relations, feminist perspectives express a “set of ideas woven around the critique of patriarchal values and dynamics on which states and global societies were structured” (Villarroel Peña, 2007, p. 66). According to the author, the new approaches implied a series of disruptions in the ontological, epistemological and methodological dimensions that, consequently, motivated the formulation of new models of knowledge production. In such context of emergence, feminist perspectives were considered dissident proposals in relation to the traditional mainstream theoretical schools because they aimed to highlight the insufficiency of paradigmatic investigations of the discipline that had been based on a partial and not neutral approach of international dynamics and practices (Villarroel Peña, 2007; Salomón, 2002).

In order to achieve the proposed aim, in the first section of this article, the general panorama in which gender studies in the Social Sciences was inserted shall be described.  Likewise, the conditions of emergence and enunciation of feminisms in the discipline of international relations will be addressed, and their main ontological, epistemological and methodological contributions will be made explicit. In the second section, the specificity of the situated narrative of decolonial feminisms, understood as a disruption of the homogenizing and falsely universalistic postulates of hegemonic feminisms, will be analyzed. Based on the guidelines offered by the first two sections, the third section will inquire into the implications of international cooperation for feminisms in general, and decolonial feminisms in particular.  The goal here is to elucidate to what extent a perpetuating mechanism of asymmetries is expressed, and how it is possible to overcome patriarchal logics from an emancipatory perspective. Finally, brief conclusions will be shared.

In summary, some relevant conclusions have been found through the elaboration of the article. In the first place, it is important to note that, although international cooperation does not represent the object of study most in-depth analyzed by feminist perspectives in international relations, this focus is fundamental for the same two reasons that justify this article. That is, due to the need to contribute to the ontological revisionism of the discipline, and the need to make visible the ways in which international practices and dynamics perpetuate logics of subordination and exclusion towards different corporeality based on the matrix of colonial, capitalist and patriarchal domination.

Secondly, the study of international cooperation from perspectives –like feminism- that seek to contribute to the transformation of unequal and hierarchical gender social relations is fundamental not only in academic terms, but also in a practical way. Indeed, the combination of research and political activism promulgated by feminisms should radiate in the elucidation of the practices and dynamics of international cooperation because it is precisely in this field that important opportunities can be detected to make visible and socialize conditions of existence, resistance and struggle shared between different social groups located in different places. In effect, research must be thought of as an inessential component of political practices inasmuch as it offers horizontal action guidelines, and as it contributes to identifying the perpetuation of mechanisms that reproduce asymmetric logics in an androcentric, cisgeneric and colonial way. Thirdly, intersectionality -such a significant category for feminist approaches- can become a central hermeneutical perspective to formulate instances of international cooperation that are devised in a respectful way with the particularities of local identities, interests and expectations. Likewise, it can be shown that it allows for the provision of pragmatic content to the decolonial strategy of building alliances between social groups to promote demands that were historically invisibilized.

In short, it has been demonstrated that international cooperation itself does not represent a sign of progress, evolution or emancipation. On the contrary, we state that it is a mere interaction whose content and planning must be based on the capacity of agency of local actors, and whose development must be in accordance with the particularities expressed by each social group. In addition, feminist criticisms of the ways in which international cooperation was traditionally conducted should not be limited to advocating a greater incorporation of female officials as the ultimate goal of the demands. Indeed, recovering the criticism directed towards hegemonic feminism, particular attention should be paid to promoting pinkwashing initiatives that in no way contribute to dismantling the underlying problems that emerge from the matrix of colonial, capitalist and patriarchal domination. On the contrary, it is emphasized that international cooperation should only be a possibility in so far as it is structured on the basis of the demands of the groups involved. In this sense, initiatives must be bottom-up, and should be respectful of local identities and expectations.

Lastly, we can conclude that as long as international cooperation initiatives are not structured in a situated and contextual way, it will be very unlikely that collective emancipation strategies can be articulated.  Moreover, this will only contribute to reaffirming the reproductive mechanisms of gender asymmetries in the international system. Contributions from decolonial feminisms, therefore, are essential to generate limitations to the reproduction of unequal and hierarchical gender social relations both in the areas of international cooperation policy formulation, and that of theory formulation.