Feminist scholars assert that women both conduct diplomacy and think about the world differently than men. For most of human history, men have occupied both roles, enacting policy and thinking and writing about those policies. In this exercise, you'll need to think about world politics as a feminist. (And remember, feminist thinking is not done by women alone. Many men perceive the world through a feminist perspective.)

Consider the U.S. invasion of Iraq from a feminist perspective, and then answer two questions:

1. What kinds of arguments do feminist scholars today make about the decision to go to war in Iraq? Do you imagine that they were supportive of war? Do you imagine they were critics?
2. How might a feminist view of world politics have affected the decision to go to war? In other words, if the principal policymakers in Washington saw the world through a feminist lens, how might their decisions have been different? What decisions may have stayed the same?