Does American foreign policy need to be more feminine?
With Sarah Palin as the first republican nominated for Vice President it reminds me that American foreign policy could benefit from a mom in the room when important decisions are made. Gerte Hofstede noted in his monumental study of human behavior (for IBM) in over 100 countires that some cultures are more masculine and some more feminine. (he also noted other important characteristics but you can google his name and find out about those) I guess the question is...would a woman bring a different viewpoint to the task of statecraft? Would she see new ways to resolve conflict or fall into the same patterns as her predecessors? There is no doubt that golda meyer was an advocate of peace and though she was PM during the Yom Kippur War disaster it seems her generals were to blame for the state of the Army and that failure. She showed her tough side when she ordered the Massad to assisinate the Munic Olympic kidnappers but even there I can see a certain amount of restraint. Another "Iron Lady" margaret thacher was certainly a hawk both in using military force in the Falklands and pushing HW Bush to use force against Iraq. However compared with the foreign policy adventures of many others these actions seem cautious. This may be an interesting subject for debate (not just the one with Senator Biden) in the coming days.
The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Army or the Defense Department.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The word feminine incites a certain defensive response in most men. I think of the feminist movement. That tells me liberals and tree huggers. I would hope that a woman like a man would be unbiased in their assessment of a situation, surround themselves by a panel of advisors and seek counsel before making any decision of foreign policy or the like.
Post a Comment