1st Edition
War as Experience Contributions from International Relations and Feminist Analysis
This book is a major new contribution to our understanding of war and international relations (IR). Divided into two sections, the first part surveys the state of war and war studies in international relations, security studies and in feminist international relations. The second part addresses a missing area of IR studies of war that feminism is well-placed to fill in: the emotional and physical aspects of war.
The author examines a wide variety of conflict situations, such as the Israel/Palestine dispute, the Cold War, Vietnam, Nicaragua, wars of liberation in Africa, genocidal war in Rwanda; humanitarian interventionist war in the Balkans, the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 'war on terror'.
Drawing on the latest feminist thinking, the author demonstrates how war is experienced as a body-based politics and in so doing provides an innovative and challenging corrective to traditional theories of war in international relations. This will be essential reading for all those with an interest in gender, war and international relations.
Part I: International Relations and Feminists Consider War Introduction: War Questions for Feminism and International Relations 1. IR Takes On War 2. Feminist (IR) Takes on War Part II: Rethinking Elements and Approaches to War 3. War as Physical Experience 4. War as Emotional Experience 5. Concluding, Collaging and Looking Ahead
Biography
Christine Sylvester is professor of political science and of women's studies at the University of Connecticut and is affiliated with the School of Global Studies, The University of Gothenburg Sweden.
'War as Experience is an academically inspiring book and a strong contribution to the field. It inspires new critical thinking on conventional IR theories and motivates innovative research on peacebuilding, geopolitics, masquerades of war and neocolonialism. It is a much needed, well-written and interesting account of new literature and thinking in IR and war studies. It brings to the surface body-based politics as a challenging corrective to traditional neoliberalist theories of war.' Joshja Wessels, Peacebuilding, May 2013
