Militarism

Citation:

Enloe, Cynthia. 1993. The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Author: Cynthia Enloe

Abstract:

Cynthia Enloe's riveting new book looks at the end of the Cold War and places women at the center of international politics. Focusing on the relationship between the politics of sexuality and the politics of militarism, Enloe charts the changing definitions of gender roles, sexuality, and militarism at the end of the twentieth century.

In the gray dawn of this new era, Enloe finds that the politics of sexuality have already shifted irrevocably. Women glimpse the possibilities of democratization and demilitarization within what is still a largely patriarchal world. New opportunities for greater freedom are seen in emerging social movements—gays fighting for their place in the American military, Filipina servants rallying for their rights in Saudi Arabia, Danish women organizing against the European Community's Maastricht treaty. Enloe also documents the ongoing assaults against women as newly emerging nationalist movements serve to reestablish the privileges of masculinity.

The voices of real women are heard in this book. They reach across cultures, showing the interconnections between military networks, jobs, domestic life, and international politics. The Morning After will spark new ways of thinking about the complexities of the post-Cold War period, and it will bring contemporary sexual politics into the clear light of day as no other book has done. (University of California Press)

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Political Economies, Post-Conflict, Sexuality

Year: 1993

Citation:

Wadham, Ben. 2013. “Brotherhood: Homosociality, Totality and Military Subjectivity.” Australian Feminist Studies 28 (76): 212-35. doi:10.1080/08164649.2013.792440.

Author: Ben Wadham

Abstract:

In April 2011 a group of young male Australian Defence Force Academy Cadets conspired to prey upon an unsuspecting female colleague. Their plan was to broadcast one of their mates having consensual sex with an unsuspecting female cadet colleague for their viewing pleasure and fratriarchal bonding. The incident generated a strong and heated public debate about military culture and the ways soldiers behave. But it also marked a long end enduring history of such scandals that have developed into a reputation for the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) as obdurate and resistant to reform. Indeed, the ADF has consistently neutralised their responsibility for such practices by naming bad behaviour as merely the practices of a few bad apples. This paper unpacks the technologies of camouflage that the ADF and its military subjects' use to justify the role and place of militarism in contemporary Australian cultural relations. The paper focuses on the ideal of brotherhood and the way in which the Skype men, and the ADF as an institution, engage in forms of homosociality to naturalise the inherently violent disposition of the military. The practices and forms of fratriarchal bonding are implicated in the desire to generate and sustain a totalising masculinist economy that seeks wholeness and certainty at the expense of difference and otherness. These concerns are explored through the investigation of the sexual predation of six cadets and the manner in which the ADF accounts for its cultural practices.

Topics: Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarism, Sexual Violence Regions: Oceania Countries: Australia

Year: 2013

Citation:

Moran, Mary H. 2010. “Gender, Militarism, and Peace-Building: Projects of the Postconflict Moment.” Annual Review of Anthropology 39 (1): 261-74. doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-091908-164406.

Author: Mary H. Moran

Abstract:

Scholars have argued for decades about the relationship between biological sex and organized violence, but feminist analysts across numerous disciplines have documented the range and variety of gendered roles in times of war. In recent years, research has brought new understanding of the rapidity with which ideas about masculinity and femininity can change in times of war and the role of militarization in constructing and enforcing the meaning of manhood and womanhood. In the post-Cold War period, 'new wars' have mobilized gender in multiple ways, and peace-building is often managed by external humanitarian organizations. A strange disconnect exists between the massive body of scholarly research on gender, militarism, and peace-building and on-the-ground practices in postconflict societies, where essentialized ideas of men as perpetrators of violence and women as victims continue to guide much program design.

Topics: Armed Conflict, "New Wars", Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Femininity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Militarization, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Violence

Year: 2010

Citation:

Kronsell, Annica, and Erika Svedberg, eds. 2012. Making Gender, Making War: Violence, Military and Peacekeeping Practices. New York: Routledge.

Authors: Annica Kronsell, Erika Svedberg

Abstract:

Making Gender, Making War is a unique interdisciplinary edited collection which explores the social construction of gender, war-making and peacekeeping. It highlights the institutions and processes involved in the making of gender in terms of both men and women, masculinity and femininity. The "war question for feminism" marks a thematic red thread throughout; it is a call to students and scholars of feminism to take seriously and engage with the task of analyzing war. Contributors analyze how war-making is intertwined with the making of gender in a diversity of empirical case studies, organized around four themes: gender, violence and militarism; how the making of gender is connected to a (re)making of the nation through military practices; UN SCR 1325 and gender mainstreaming in institutional practices; and gender subjectivities in the organization of violence, exploring the notion of violent women and non-violent men. (WorldCat)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Men, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gender Mainstreaming, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Peacekeeping, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325, Violence

Year: 2012

Citation:

Hitgate, Paul, and John Hopton. 2005. “War, Militarism, and Masculinities.” In Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities, edited by Michael S. Kimmel, Jeff R. Hearn, and Robert W. Connell, 432-47. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.

Authors: Paul Hitgate, John Hopton

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism

Year: 2005

Citation:

Skinner, Elliott P. 1999. “Child Soldiers in Africa: A Disaster for Future Families.” International Journal on World Peace 16 (2): 7–22.

Author: Elliott P. Skinner

Abstract:

In the African civil wars of the last twenty years, an increasing number of combatants are as young as 8 or 10, with girl fighters increasingly common. Once inducted into the army it is difficult to reintegrate youth into society. In Sierra Leone, some youngsters were radicalized politically, finding little difference between the merits of democracy and the evils of militarism. Many of these children will be unable to raise viable families or lead viable societies. Human Rights Watch advocates a minimum age of eighteen for involvement in armed conflict of any kind. It seeks to have governments immediately release children to their families, or if they cannot be found, to appropriate alternative care that takes into account the needs of young people.

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Girls, Boys, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Rights, Human Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 1999

Citation:

Theidon, Kimberly. 2009. "Reconstructing Masculinities: The Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration of Former Combatants in Colombia." Human Rights Quarterly 31 (1): 1-34.

Author: Kimberly Theidon

Abstract:

A key component of peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction is the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants. I argue that DDR programs imply multiple transitions: from the combatants who lay down their weapons, to the governments that seek an end to armed conflict, to the communities that receive—or reject—these demobilized fighters. At each level, these transitions imply a complex equation between the demands of peace and the clamor for justice. However, traditional approaches to DDR have focused on military and security objectives, which have resulted in these programs being developed in relative isolation from the field of transitional justice and its concerns with historical clarification, justice, reparations, and reconciliation. Drawing upon my research with former combatants in Colombia, I argue that successful reintegration not only requires fusing the processes and goals of DDR programs with transitional justice measures, but that both DDR and transitional justice require a gendered analysis that includes an examination of the salient links between weapons, masculinities, and violence. Constructing certain forms of masculinity is not incidental to militarism: rather, it is essential to its maintenance. What might it mean to “add gender” to DDR and transitional justice processes if one defined gender to include men and masculinities, thus making these forms of identity visible and a focus of research and intervention? I explore how one might “add gender” to the DDR program in Colombia as one step toward successful reintegration, peace-building, and sustainable social change.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, DDR, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Justice, Transitional Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Security, Violence, Weapons /Arms Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2009

Citation:

Mama, Amina. 2014. “Beyond Survival: Militarism, Equity and Women’s Security.” In Development and Equity: An Interdisciplinary Exploration by Ten Scholars from Africa, Asia and Latin America, edited by Dick Foeken, Ton Dietz, Leo De Haan, and Linda Johnson, 29-46. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV.

Author: Amina Mama

Abstract:

This paper explores the tension between the prospects for equitable development and the global investments in militarism. It argues that militarism – a highly gendered economic, political and cultural phenomenon – not only sustains underdevelopment in poorer nations, but also poses a key obstacle to gender equity in militarized societies more generally. Evidence from current research on the Nigerian, Liberian and Sierra Leonean civil wars illustrates women’s increased participation in more recent conflicts, their improvised livelihood strategies and their contribution in peace activism. In the era of neoliberal globalization, postcolonial militarism continues to undermine the prospects for democratization, social justice and genuine security, especially for women. An effective strategy for addressing the dual perils of militarism and gender inequality requires strengthening the work of the women’s movements, to engage in more effective evidence-based advocacy that highlights and challenges the gendered political, economic and cultural foundations of militarism and insecurity.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Combatants, Female Combatants, Economies, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Political Participation Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone

Year: 2014

Citation:

Helman, Sara. 1999. “From Soldiering and Motherhood to Citizenship: A Study of Four Israeli Peace Protest Movements.” Social Politics 6 (3): 292-313.

Author: Sara Helman

Abstract:

This article discusses the paradox of the Israeli peace movement. The Israeli peace movement draws on consensual militaristic symbols— mainly the fighter's role and republican motherhood. However, it has not succeeded in broadening its constituency beyond the Ashkenazi middle classes. It is maintained that this contradiction stems from the ways in which war and conflict management shaped the citizenship regime in Israel. War and routine conflict management have ethnicized and genderized citizenship in Israel. The ethnicization and gendering of citizenship have resulted from the differential incorporation of social categories in national missions as they were conceived in light of the routine management of conflict and of war. This differential incorporation has constituted social identities. These identities in turn are mobilized in collective action frameworks to challenge the war politics of the state. The main two identities mobilized, the fighter's role and motherhood, have not been successful in broadening the constituency of the Israeli peace movement. Moreover, the radicalization of collective action frameworks—signaled by the progressive transition from soldiering and motherhood to citizenship—narrowed the appeal of the peace movement. This radicalization has exposed the cultural, political, and economic interests of the leadership and constituency of the peace movement.

Topics: Combatants, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 1999

Citation:

Ryan, Louise. 2000. “‘Drunken Tans’: Representations of Sex and Violence in the Anglo-Irish War.” Feminist Review 66 (1): 73–94.

Author: Louise Ryan

Abstract:

Keywords: sexual violence, militarism, Ireland, nationalism, masculinity, femininity

Topics: Armed Conflict, National Liberation Wars, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Femininity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Nationalism, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Northern Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland, United Kingdom

Year: 2000