International Organizations

Citation:

Sanghera, Gurchaten, Marsha Henry, and Paul Higate. 2008. “Peacekeepers as New Men? Security and Masculinity in the United Nations Mission in Liberia.” SPAIS Working paper 02-08, School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.

Authors: Gurchaten Sanghera , Marsha Henry, Paul Higate

Abstract:

Drawing on a small scale qualitative study of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), this paper provides an insight into the ways in which those who work and live in this post- conflict site made sense of the styles of security provided by male peacekeepers. Interview material was subject to analyses through the gendered lens in ways that sought to examine the extent to which male peacekeepers were seen as derivatives of the ‘New Man’ on account of their dominant representation as ‘soft warrior’ in UN and other imagery. A three stage typology was developed from the data including the ‘hard (traditional) warrior’, the ‘soft warrior/humanitarian’ and the ‘peacekeeper as New Man’. Our findings suggested that national contingent identity shaped participant understandings of the gendered styles of peacekeepers security practices to which they were subject. Here, Nigerian troops of the previous ECOMOG presence were seen as ‘hard men’, Bangladeshi troops were considered as somewhat ‘weak’ or ‘soft’ and Swedish and Irish contingent personnel were framed as ‘fair’ and ‘professional’. In conclusion we argue that different styles of peacekeeping articulated at a national level find expression ‘on-the-ground’, as they converge with national stereotypes held by participants. In this way perceptions of national identity arose at the interface of (1) national-domestic approaches to peacekeeping (2) observable security practice and (3) imaginings of particular peacekeeper masculinities. In turn these gave rise to the content and form of national stereotypes through which male peacekeepers masculinised identities were perceived to shape the provision of a variety of securities.

Topics: Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations, Peacekeeping, Post-Conflict, Security Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2008

Citation:

Punyarut, Nunlada. 2006. “Violence Against Women, Sex Industry and The Business of United Nations Peace Operations.” Thai Journal of Public Administration 4 (1–2549): 81–99.

Author: Nunlada Punyarut

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Organizations, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Thailand

Year: 2006

Citation:

Cockburn, Cynthia, and Dubravka Žarkov. 2002. The Postwar Moment: Militaries, Masculinities and International Peacekeeping, Bosnia and the Netherlands. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

Authors: Cynthia Cockburn, Dubravka Žarkov

Abstract:

A postwar moment is one of promise - but too often of missed opportunities. Will peace bring a democratic, inclusive and equal society? This depends on many factors, but the contributors to this book argue that one of them - crucial but often overlooked - is the importance accorded to transforming gender power relations. Through a focus on two countries, Bosnia and the Netherlands, linked through a "peace-keeping operation", the contributors illuminate the many ways in which processes of demilitarisation and peace-keeping are structured by notions of masculinity and femininity. The Dayton Peace Agreement failed to acknowledge the gendered nature of the war it ended. Gender was also neglected by the many powerful international institutions and agencies which arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 to pacify and administer the war-torn country. Several chapters in the book consider these shortcomings in the Bosnian postwar moment, and the way they have impeded local women's efforts to reshape their world. The Dutch contingent of the UN peace-keeping forces was widely held responsible for failing to prevent the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men in Srebrenica. The self-questioning provoked in the Netherlands by this event here becomes a rich source of insight into relationships between soldiering and masculinities, war-fighting and peace-keeping. (Amazon)

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, International Organizations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Peacekeeping, Post-Conflict Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe, Western Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Netherlands

Year: 2002

Citation:

Olsen, Odd Einar, and Kristin Scharffscher. 2004. “Rape in Refugee Camps as Organisational Failures.” International Journal of Human Rights 8 (4): 377–97.

Authors: Odd Einar Olsen, Kristin Scharffscher

Abstract:

Gender-based violence (GBV) in refugee camps is analysed by using mainstream theories of risk and safety management derived from studies of accidents in technological production systems. We use theory of organisational accidents and man-made disasters to explain the mutual linkages between latent conditions for GBV embedded in the structures of humanitarian organisations, and assaults occurring in the camps. Furthermore, safety management theory is applied to explain how organisational preconditions for GBV may develop unnoticed in humanitarian organisations and ultimately contribute to the perpetuated vulnerability of refugee women. The analysis is based on a study undertaken in Sierra Leone.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender-Based Violence, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2004

Citation:

Notar, Susan A. 2006. “Peacekeepers as Perpetrators: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Women and Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law 14 (2): 413-429.

Author: Susan A. Notar

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, International Law, International Criminal Law, International Organizations, Justice, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Regions: Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2006

Citation:

Bridges, Donna, and Debbie Horsfall. 2009. “Increasing Operational Effectiveness in UN Peacekeeping: Toward a Gender-Balanced Force.” Armed Forces & Society 36 (1): 120–30.

Authors: Donna Bridges, Debbie Horsfall

Abstract:

In this article, the authors argue that an increased percentage of female military personnel on UN peacekeeping operations is beneficial to operational effectiveness. They establish a case for a greater proportion of female service personnel that is based on three main premises: (1) a force adequately representative of female service personnel in peacekeeping operations will combat sexual misconduct perpetrated by some male soldiers, (2) peacekeeping is a task of great consequence and is best served by a force representative of both genders, (3) a greater proportion of female military personnel engenders trust and improves the reputation of peacekeepers among local populations. Literature reviews, including media reviews, research, and policy reports compiled by the Australian Defence Force (ADF), other Western militaries, and the United Nations, inform the above assertions and are augmented by research data from interviews with female personnel from the ADF.

Keywords: peacekeeping, women, Gender, Australian Defence Force

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender Balance, International Organizations, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence

Year: 2009

Citation:

Sadasivam, Bharati. 1997. “The Impact of Structural Adjustment on Women: A Governance and Human Rights Agenda.” Human Rights Quarterly 19 (3): 630–65.

Author: Bharati Sadasivam

Keywords: economic development, human rights, poverty, World Bank, socio-economics, policy, women, gender inequality

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, International Organizations, Rights, Human Rights

Year: 1997

Citation:

Whitworth, Sandra. 2004. Men, Militarism, and UN Peacekeeping: A Gendered Analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Author: Sandra Whitworth

Abstract:

Sandra Whitworth looks behind the rhetoric to investigate - from a feminist perspective - the realities of military intervention under the UN flag. Whitworth contends that there is a fundamental contradiction between portrayals of peacekeeping as altruistic and benign and the militarized masculinity that underpins the group identity of soldiers. (WorldCat)

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, International Organizations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Militarization, Peacekeeping Regions: Africa, East Africa, Americas, North America, Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia, Canada, Somalia

Year: 2004

Citation:

Razack, Sherene. 2002. "Outwhiting the White Guys: Men of Colour and Peacekeeping Violence." UMKC Law Review 71: 331-54.

Author: Sherene Razack

Abstract:

What can we know about men of colour who engage in acts of violence against lower status groups? Exploring this question in the context of the violence of Canadian peacekeepers who were on peacekeeping duties in Somalia in 1993, I critique Nancy Ehrenreich’s notion of “compensatory violence,” where men of colour are thought to compensate for their diminished status as men through engaging in acts of violence against lower status groups (in Ehrenreich’s examples, principally women, but also other men of colour). I offer some thoughts on how we might consider the violence of men of colour in the peacekeeping context without excusing, pathologising, or exceptionalizing their behaviour, and importantly, without obscuring the highly racial terms of the encounter between Candian peacekeepers and the Somali population. Instead of a compensatory framework, I propose an anti-colonial one. The terms and conditions of membership in a white nation include that men of colour must forget the racial violence that is done to them, as Abouli Farmanfarmaian observes. But passing as ‘ordinary’ men requires more than an act of forgetting. I suggest that joining the nation also requires that men actively perform a hegemonic masculinity in service of nation. Compensatory theorists suggest that men of colour have the most to gain from engaging in hegemonic practices such as violence. In this article, I argue that they have as much to gain as anyone else – no more and no less – and further, their investment in such hegemonic practices can also be undermined by their own experiences of violence. 

Topics: Armed Conflict, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, International Organizations, Peacekeeping, Race, Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa, Americas, North America Countries: Canada, Somalia

Year: 2002

Citation:

Olsson, Louise. 2000. “Mainstreaming Gender in Multidimensional Peacekeeping: A Field Perspective.” International Peacekeeping 7 (3): 1–16. doi:10.1080/13533310008413846.

Author: Louise Olsson

Abstract:

Since the Beijing Conference in 1995, mainstreaming a gender perspective in the entire work of the United Nations has been a priority. This article presents a picture of the contemporary situation concerning the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in multidimensional peacekeeping operations. The main focus concerns female participation in the field which, historically, has been very low. Research indicates that more job opportunities for women exist in operations which contain a large civilian component, but that the military and police components remain mainly male. The article also argues that human rights and humanitarian assistance are two examples of areas of multidimensional peacekeeping operations where it is vital to consider the different needs of men and women.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender Balance, Gender Mainstreaming, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations, Peacekeeping, Rights, Human Rights

Year: 2000