Feminists Theorise International Political Economy: The State of the Field

This article introduces the women and international political economy special issue of Signs, tracing its relationship to the crisis of neoliberalism as they developed concurrently and highlighting the key themes elucidated in the articles presented here. Three themes, which are reflected in different ways in these articles, are outlined in this introduction in order to illustrate the importance of gender in analyzing international political economy: first, the benefit of multilayered approaches to governance; second, new insights into debates about social reproduction and work; and, third, pressing concerns of intimacy and sexuality. In particular, the introduction foregrounds transnational and postcolonial approaches to political economy questions, including their application in a national frame. The article then identifies the gaps in the literature, and in the special issue itself, and concludes by reflecting on the Janus?faced nature of crises. We suggest that discursive and political struggles are already taking place that challenge the power relations entrenched within international political economy.