Schramm and Stark - Peacemakers or Iron Ladies?

What is the main idea?

• challenges the traditional idea that female political leaders are automatically more likely to peacemakers than their male counterparts

• argues women political leaders may be more likely to initiate conflict

• this behavior is driven by social pressure and the idea that gender is performative (leaders act in certain ways to signal their identity)

Why do women initiate conflict more?

• to signal toughness to the elite male in-group

• they are incentivized to perform stereotypically masculine gendered behaviors

• by initiating MIDs (low-level; militarized interstate disputes) they signal their competence and toughness (qualities associated with effective leadership and masculinity)

Is the likelihood a female will initiate conflict uniform?

• it depends on political and social environment

• female leaders are more likely to initiate conflicts in democratic systems where the executive faces higher levels of constraint

  • in constrained systems the head of government is more vulnerable to removal by fellow policy elites

• I.e. turkey’s prime minister = government was unstable and she used militarized rhetoric an policies to signal her strength to policy elites

When are female leaders less likely to initiate conflict?

• in societies with higher overall levels of women’s political empowerment and participation

  • their presence is more normalized

  • the association between masculine characteristics and competent leadership is lessened

• I.e. Chile’s president served in a system with fewer constraints and high levels of women’s political empowerment

  • she promoted reconciliation and diffused tense national situations