Abstract

Does gender play a role in foreign policy decision-making? There is a lively scholarly debate on this question, as well as differences in methodological approaches. For example, Shea and Christian (2016) claim gender helps add valuable explanation for the “reasons why states become involved with conflict” (Shea and Christian 2016, 2). Other scholars argue about the different methodical approaches to studying gender and foreign policy decisions (Childs and Krook 2009). This Independent Study focuses on the effect of advocacy from female legislative coalitions on government decisions to carry out humanitarian military interventions. To explain this phenomenon, this Independent Study uses a comparative analysis to examine how female coalitions in legislatures are able influence governments to carry out humanitarian military interventions. This study examines the responses by two democracies, Canada and the United States, during the Rwanda Genocide in 1994 and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan from 1995 to 2005. The results from this study suggest that female legislative coalitions are more successful at influencing government decisions surrounding humanitarian military interventions in some democracies than in others.

Advisor

Lantis, Jeffrey

Department

Political Science

Keywords

Gender, Foreign Policy

Publication Date

2018

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2018 Danielle Vlahos Muster