Abstract
This paper examines how ASEAN states strategically recalibrate gender governance amid U.S. hegemonic retrenchment following Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection. Bridging feminist international relations, comparative institutionalism, and political economy, it theorizes strategic gender mainstreaming—the instrumental repurposing of gender norms by states to sustain legitimacy while navigating geopolitical realignment. Using original panel data (2000–2024) and multi-model regression techniques, including fixed effects, instrumental variables, and vector autoregression, the study demonstrates that U.S. aid withdrawal produces regime-contingent effects: democratic regimes increase women’s parliamentary representation, while hybrid regimes experience decline. Contrary to linear norm diffusion theories, findings reveal that Chinese trade engagement—despite lacking explicit feminist commitments—can indirectly foster gender inclusion through labor-market integration and state developmental logics. The paper introduces a developmental pathway hypothesis, positing that economic modernization under non-Western hegemony may generate novel routes to descriptive representation. These results reframe gender inclusion as a function of institutional adaptation under multipolarity, contributing to broader debates on feminist governance, norm contestation, and the reconstitution of political authority in the post-liberal international order.
Recommended Citation
Ian Magowan
(2025)
"New Deals in Southeast Asia: Women’s Leadership in ASEAN Under the Shadow of America First,"
The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development: Vol. 10:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/agsjournal/vol10/iss1/3