Sample
How would more balanced gender rights in sovereign countries shape International Relations?
Introduction
The parameters of this study have been set widely. This can be exemplified by noting some definitions contained within the title. For example, International Relations is a broad and cross-disciplinary subject which includes philosophy, history, economics, law, sociology, and a host of others. Within this, contemporary international relations is not only interested in political relations between sovereign nations, but also with issues such as economic and commercial interdependence, human rights, multi-national companies, economic development, the environment, terrorism as well, of course, as gender inequalities (Jackson and Sorenson2008, p. 29). The term ‘sovereign countries’ include(s) the system of statehood which internationally recognizes the borders within which almost all people in the World live and work, regardless of the relative differences in terms of economic and military power as well as the relative empirical statehood which each has . Thus, this study, unlike many of the others which have given consideration to the issue of gender equality, will take the broadest possible approach and conduct relevant research to attempt to establish how changes in gender rights on a world-wide basis may shape the nature of the world in terms of International Relations. Thus, the proposed problem statement can be stated, namely “How would the nature of International Relations change if gender rights were more evenly balanced?”
Theoretical Framework
Authors such as Wibben (2004, p. 97) make the point that “there are many indicators that feminist IR is becoming an established subfield, including panels at major academic conferences, sections in professional organizations, single-authored and edited books as well as journal articles,” but take the issue to a further level by pointing out that by considering the wider notion of ‘gender,’ we can “interrogate how femininity and masculinity both produce gendered international relations” (Wibben (2004, p. 106). However, in reality much of institutional life is predominantly a male preserve. Therefore, the theoretical starting point for the work would be the pre-described ideas, but these would be extended to wide-ranging empirical and normative studies of where women stand within ‘gendered’ international relations, and where they have the potential not only to stand but to influence the whole range of interests encompassed within the field.
The Hypotheses
It is, of course, neither possible nor relevant to predict either the precise number of hypotheses, or their wording before having conducted a comprehensive literature review and even some preliminary research. However, one example may be given, for example “Within a given political environment, the number of women with political influence has no effect on the social and economic environment of country/state X. The independent variable would be the extent to which women were empowered and the dependents would be associable social or economic changes (given satisfactory eliminations of potentially confounding factors and tests for co-linearity). If effect was found, the null hypothesis (change) would be accepted and vice versa.
Method
Again, precision is not possible in a proposal, but it can be stated that, where possible, a mixed method approach would be employed. It is relevant to re-iterate that this will be as wide-ranging a study as is possible given any time or data constraints. However, the potential researcher acknowledges not only the relative benefits of a positivist as well as a post-positivist design, but also that the relevance and weighting of each approach will be considered before each area of study is undertaken.
References
Jackson R. & Sorenson G. (2010), International relations: Theories and approaches, 4th ed., Oxford University Press
Wibben A. T. R. (2004), Feminist International Relations: Old Debates and New Directions, the Brown Journal of World affairs, Vol. X, Issue 2