For these theorists, the notion of an agonistic feminism would be, at best, a contradiction in terms and, at worst, a muddled and, perhaps, dangerous idea.
Mouffe, Chantal, See section 2. In the past two decades it has come to exert a stronger influence over mainstream political theorizing, raising objections that mainstream philosophers have had to address, though not always very convincingly.
Hagan, Frank E. Furthermore, the claim of feminist scholarship is that it has much greater potential than the discipline of International Relations to bring about this kind of change.
Its central claim is that feminist struggle, like other struggles for social justice, is engaged in politics as ceaseless contestation. HonigAssociational theorists tend to look for ways, amidst all the differences and questions about the lack of foundations, it is possible to come to agreement on matters of common concern.
Torres, The Sexual Contract, Oxford: Polity. Feminist political theory as a term only consolidated in the West during Women's Liberation movements of the s and 70s. And it is striking that the mythical figures of iconic woman-hood, Athena and Medusa still lay claim to contemporary popular and philosophical imaginations.
The impact of this work was felt strongly where it originated in feminist legal theory see feminist philosophy of lawand has continued to be an important concept for theories of power and oppression in and out of feminist political philosophy. It is quite an undertaking to discuss the range of feminist approaches in relation to international politics over a year period, not least given the vast amount of feminist scholarship that has been done over that time.
Not all theorists who tend toward the associational model embrace deliberative theory so readily.