Weapons /Arms

Junk Feminism and Nuclear Wannabes: Collaging Parodies of Iran and North Korea

Citation:

Särmä, Saara. 2014. “Junk Feminism and Nuclear Wannabes: Collaging Parodies of Iran and North Korea.” PhD diss., Tampere University.

Author: Saara Särmä

Abstract:

Nuclear weapons have been a great source of intense negative sentiments, mainly fear, over the past 70 years. The intensity of these sentiments has fluctuated over the decades as the relative positions of and the relations between nuclear weapons states have shifted and changed. This doctoral dissertation deals with a different register of sentiments, equally familiar, but not often associated with the issue. It turns to sentiments that are more positive and examines laughter’s role in world politics. It focuses on the actors located at the bottom of the global nuclear order, namely nuclear wannabes. The global nuclear order is a hierarchy institutionalized in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which divides the world into nuclear haves and have-nots. Nuclear wannabes are those states that want to move from have-not to have by acquiring nuclear arsenals, i.e. Iran and North Korea. The dissertation explores (loosely western) everyday understandings of nuclear wannabes and argues that the global nuclear order is reproduced in humorous everyday representations of these states. It takes the internet and social media seriously as sites where everyday understandings are constituted. It argues that the knowledges produced in and through the internet are increasingly anecdotal and fragmented, and that humor and laughter play a role in the knowledge production and circulation. It looks at how laughter at actors depicted in internet parodies orders the global nuclear hierarchy, in particular, and orders the international more broadly. Furthermore, it examines the boundary conditions created by this laugher. The work situates theoretically in the transdisciplinary field of Feminist International Relations and sees gender as relational, performative, and hierarchical. To engage with the fragmented mode of knowledge and random collection of “stuff” (research material) an art based methodology is developed. Junk feminist collaging experiments with a playful mode of doing research, which advocates for openness and creativity in research; for modes of writing and expression that disrupt the hierarchical relationship with the author and the reader; and for doing research by making art. The collages created during the research process and presented as part of this dissertation are a unique intervention. This intervention challenges the priority of text over images in conventional academic modes of presenting research and invites the reader/viewer to participate actively in meaning making. The collages visualize the ways in which nuclear wannabes are gendered and sexualized, as these processes are central to the creation, recreation and maintenance of the hierarchical international order.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Weapons /Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Regions: MENA, Asia, East Asia, Middle East Countries: Iran, North Korea

Year: 2014

Feminist Interdisciplinarity and Gendered Parodies of Nuclear Iran

Citation:

Särmä, Saara. 2012. “Feminist Interdisciplinarity and Gendered Parodies of Nuclear Iran.” In Global and Regional Problems: Towards an Interdisciplinary Study, edited by Pami Aalto,  Vilho Harle, and Sami Moisio, 151-170. Surrey: Ashgate. 

Author: Saara Särmä

Annotation:

Summary:
"The chapter is divided into four parts. The first discusses feminist interdisciplinarity in the field of international studies in general. The second part introduces an interdisciplinary feminist approach to nuclear proliferation which draws on feminist philosophy, ethnography, psychology, postcolonialism and IR and uses gender as an analytical category. Thirdly, the attention turns to Internet parodies and the everyday global politics that can be accessed by examining them. The final section analyses the internet parady imagery prompted by the Iranian missile test and the gendered and sexualized forms of these representations. The analysis makes gender visible by examining how Iran is masculinized and feminized in various parody images" (Särmä 2011, 153).

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Weapons /Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Iran

Year: 2012

War, Sex and Justice: Barriers to Gender Justice in Post-Conflict Liberia

Citation:

Bamidele, Seun. 2017. “War, Sex and Justice: Barriers to Gender Justice in Post-Conflict Liberia.” International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences 12 (1): 69-82.

Author: Seun Bamidele

Abstract:

The literature on the sexual violence (SV) in many arms-ravaged countries offers a gruesome and horrific narrative of how the feminine sex has become a victim of such conflict. The literature relates how women were both victims and weapons of war in both physical and psychological ways. However, the literature contains very little relating to the issues of sexual justice for victims as well as perpetrators. In Liberia, years of conflict and abuses against women have been given great attention, but little has been said about regimes of reparation, rehabilitation, and compensation for the victims of war. While there were attempts to ensure that victims of war be systematically compensated and rehabilitated as in Rwanda, the Liberian experience left much to be desired in this respect. The reason for this deserves investigation. Although there are traditional and contemporary barriers barring access to sexual justice in many developing countries, Liberia included, efforts to achieve sexual assault justice in post-conflict societies remain very sensitive for the reason that they may inadvertently lead to stigmatization. The social deficit resulting from this failure has yet to be analyzed in many states. Similarly, a systemically dysfunctional judicial process cannot serve as an agency of remedy. This system is usually expensive to service and maintain. This is coupled with a loss of faith in government and its institutions by the victims. As a combination of weak judicial institutions and social and economic impediments limits the prospects of a sexual justice, this study assesses sexual justice in post-conflict Bahn and Nimba County in Liberia. It examines the broader implications, as it raises questions about the relevance of the regime of justice on the Bahn and Nimba County victims and the perpetrator and draw lessons from this experience.

Keywords: conflict, sexual violence, Sexual Justice, women, Liberia

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Justice, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, Weapons /Arms Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2017

Role and Participation of Women in the Establishment and Implementation of International Security Policies

Citation:

Vrajolli, Marigonë. 2018. “Role and Participation of Women in the Establishment and Implementation of International Security Policies.” Academicus: International Scientific Journal 17: 54–61.

Author: Marigonë Vrajolli

Abstract:

Women have long been excluded from peace and security processes, which include disarmament, despite being disproportionately affected by weapons. Emphasizing, the role of women in peace and security processes began to gain meaning only after 2000, when the United Nations Resolution, Resolution 1325 entered into force. In order for women to participate equally in such processes, the resolution emphasizes the necessity of women’s participation as agents of positive change and not as weak and powerless victims. Contributing to a society where women can live freely in harmony without being marginalized.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the different roles that women have in creating security policies. Further, this paper explains the role of women in initiatives, peacekeeping and peace-building. The paper also explains the international mechanisms that promote the involvement of women in peace and security processes.

Keywords: United Nations resolution, disarmament, women’s participation

Topics: Peace and Security, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, Security, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325, Weapons /Arms

Year: 2018

Women as Agents of Peace and Stability: Measuring the Results

Citation:

Bachelet, Michelle. 2015. “Women as Agents of Peace and Stability: Measuring the Results.” In Women on the Frontlines of Peace and Security, 87–112. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press. 

Author: Michelle Bachelet

Annotation:

Summary:
“UNSCR 1325 has many goals, but focuses on two points: addressing the problems women face as victims or survivors of war, and promoting women as agents of peace. More attention has been directed toward protecting women and girls than toward promoting their role in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and postconflict recovery and peace-building. Ordinary people are now more familiar with the plight of women and girls plight in conflict zones, specifically widespread and sometimes organized sexual violence. More decisive action is needed, but at least after decades of discussing violence against women as a weapon of war, such violence provokes moral revulsion, and most agree that something must be done to address it.
 
“But protection from violence had long been discussed before UNSCR 1325. The resolution emphasized the importance of women’s participation in peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peace-building. While this has been validated and endorsed many times since the adoption of UNSCR 1325, relatively few people actually know what it entails, why it is important, and what evidence connects it with more durable and stable peace and security. Why do we need quotas for women in parliaments and legislatures? Why do we need women at the peace table?” (Bachelet 2014, 96).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Conflict Prevention, Gender, Women, Conflict, Peace and Security, Governance, Quotas, International Organizations, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325, Sexual Violence, Weapons /Arms

Year: 2014

Sex and World Peace

Citation:

Hudson, Valerie M., Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Mary Caprioli, and Chad F. Emmett. 2012. Sex and World Peace. New York: Columbia University Press.

Authors: Valerie M. Hudson, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Mary Caprioli, Chad F. Emmett

Annotation:

Summary:
Sex and World Peace unsettles a variety of assumptions in political and security discourse, demonstrating that the security of women is a vital factor in the security of the state and its incidence of conflict and war. The authors compare micro-level gender violence and macro-level state peacefulness in global settings, supporting their findings with detailed analyses and color maps. Harnessing an immense amount of data, they call attention to discrepancies between national laws protecting women and the enforcement of those laws, and they note the adverse effects on state security of abnormal sex ratios favoring males, the practice of polygamy, and inequitable realities in family law, among other gendered aggressions. The authors find that the treatment of women informs human interaction at all levels of society. Their research challenges conventional definitions of security and democracy and shows that the treatment of gender, played out on the world stage, informs the true clash of civilizations. In terms of resolving these injustices, the authors examine top-down and bottom-up approaches to healing wounds of violence against women, as well as ways to rectify inequalities in family law and the lack of parity in decision-making councils. Emphasizing the importance of an R2PW, or state responsibility to protect women, they mount a solid campaign against women's systemic insecurity, which effectively unravels the security of all. (Summary from Columbia University Press)
 
Table of Contents
1. Roots of National and International Interests
2. What Is There to See
3. When We Do See the Global Picture
4. The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security of States
5. Wings of National and International Relations
6. Wings of National and International Relations 
7. Taking Wing 

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Conflict Prevention, Domestic Violence, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Gender Balance, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Peace and Security, Governance, Constitutions, Quotas, Political Participation, Rights, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Violence, Weapons /Arms

Year: 2012

Demobilized Women Combatants: Lessons from Colombia

Citation:

Giraldo, Saridalia. 2012. “Demobilized Women Combatants: Lessons from Colombia.” Paper presented at the Thinking Gender Conference, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, Los Angeles, February 3.

Author: Saridalia Giraldo

Abstract:

In Colombia, a country with one of the longest civil wars in the world, women combatants return to civil society in the midst of ongoing tension. In this transition, women suffer triple difficulties: the reaction of their home communities; hostility from armed illegal groups still engaged in conflict, and disregarding from the government itself. What accounts for these obstacles? First, in a patriarchal society such as Colombia, demobilized women face the denigration of their community which views women’s participation in armed conflict as an infringement on traditional female roles. Second, in the midst of continued conflict, demobilized women are also in danger of being rerecruited, tortured, killed or displaced from their home towns by their former peers in combat who perceive them as traitors, or by active criminal groups who consider them as enemies. Third, public policy designed to demobilize and reintegrate combatants gives little attention to women´s special needs as victims of gender violence. Recognizing that women and their needs remain invisible, this paper proposes that formal and informal post-conflict measures in Colombia must be gendersensitized in order to effectively reintegrate women and men into civilian life.
 

Keywords: women combatants, demobilization, reintegration, DDR, peace-building, Colombia, civil war, guerrillas, FARC, sexual violence

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Female Combatants, DDR, Gender, Gender Roles, Gender-Based Violence, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Sexual Violence, Violence, Weapons /Arms Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2012

Gendered Patterns of Mobilization and Recruitment for Political Violence, Experiences from Three Latin American Countries

Citation:

Dietrich Ortega, Luisa Maria. 2012. “Gendered Patterns of Mobilization and Recruitment for Political Violence, Experiences from Three Latin American Countries.” In Understanding Collective Political Violence, 84–104. Conflict, Inequality and Ethnicity. Palgrave Macmillan: London.

Author: Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega

Abstract:

Over the past decades a feminist perspective on international relations, security studies and conflict has broadened the scope of the field.1 Troubled by the absence of women as research objects and subjects, feminist scholars have started to ask different questions and to employ alternative methodologies in order to unveil gendered distortions, namely, male bias and gender-neutral appearance. Both are inherent in the study of political violence and mobilization research. Male bias is deeply rooted in the study of political violence, which centres on male-connoted concepts such as nation-states, war, military and armed groups and predominantly male actors, such as presidents, soldiers, rebel leaders, presuming a connection between violence and masculinities. Thus, a worldview that equates male experiences to the norm continually reproduces a male value system that excludes women from conventional accounts of political violence and constructs a symbolic ‘woman’ as deviant from or in respect to male-as-norm criteria (Ackerly et al. 2006: 4; Peterson and True 1998: 15). Due to the absence of women from conflict narratives, the invisibility of gender regimes operating in the context of conflict, mainstream scholars maintain the normative fiction that conflicts are gender-free (Ní Aoláin and Rooney 2007: 342). (Abstract from Springer)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, Violence, Weapons /Arms Regions: Americas, South America

Year: 2012

The Just War Tradition: Translating the Ethics of Human Dignity into Political Practices

Citation:

Bergoffen, Debra B. 2008. "The Just War Tradition: Translating the Ethics of Human Dignity into Political Practices." Hypatia 23 (2): 72-94.

Author: Debra B. Bergoffen

Abstract:

This essay argues that the ambiguities of the just war tradition, sifted through a feminist critique, provides the best framework currently available for translating the ethical entitlement to human dignity into concrete feminist political practices. It offers a gendered critique of war that pursues the just war distinction between legitimate and illegitimate targets of wartime violence and provides a gendered analysis of the peace which the just war tradition obliges us to preserve and pursue.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis, Justice, Peace Processes, Security, Human Security, Violence, Weapons /Arms

Year: 2008

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