Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8921
Title: ‘O effeminacy! Effeminacy!’ War, masculinity and the myth of liberal peace
Authors: Neocleous, M
Keywords: Adam Ferguson;Adam Smith;Effeminacy;Liberal peace;Martial values;Masculinity;Scottish enlightenment
Issue Date: 2013
Publisher: Sage Publications
Citation: European Journal of International Relations, 19(1), 93 - 113, 2013
Abstract: This article challenges a received wisdom in the liberal peace thesis, namely that the roots of the conjunction of liberalism and peace can be traced back to the idea of an essentially pacific commercial civil society in the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment. The article instead shows that the Scottish Enlightenment was committed to the idea of military virtue. Textual analysis of the work of Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson reveals a deep and abiding commitment to martial values. The article explores this commitment via an account of the rise of concerns over ‘effeminacy’ in the 18th century, understood as a threat to both military virtue and masculine strength. In exploring these ideas the article claims that IR has helped perpetuate one of today’s key political myths: that liberalism is committed to peace.
Description: This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 The Author.
URI: http://ejt.sagepub.com/content/19/1/93
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8921
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354066111414309
ISSN: 1354-0661
Appears in Collections:Politics and International Relations
Brunel Law School Research Papers

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