The Postwar Moment: Militaries, Masculinities and International Peacekeeping, Bosnia and the NetherlandsCynthia Cockburn, Dubravka Žarkov 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. Show More Show Less |
Contents
Acknowledgements | 7 |
Jolanda Bosch and Desiree Verweij | 18 |
Dismantling militarism decommissioning masculinities | 22 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
active analysis armed conflict army Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnian women's Breda chapter civil society civilian countries culture Cynthia Cockburn Cynthia Enloe Dayton Agreement democracy democratic discourse domestic violence DPKO Dutch Armed Forces Dutch military Dutchbat East Timor emergency Enloe ethnic experience fall of Srebrenica female feminist form of masculinity former Yugoslavia funding gender equity gender order gender relations groups Hubic human rights Humanist humanitarian implementation international community international institutions international peacekeeping interventions involved Karremans Kosovo Kvinna male militarized militarized masculinity military personnel Mladic Netherlands Nevesinje NGOs NRC Handelsblad Office OHCHR Oxfam peace peacekeeping peacekeeping operations political post-conflict postwar programme prostitution rape reconstruction recruitment refugees Republika Srpska response role Sarajevo Serb sexual SFOR social Srebrenica Srebrenica trauma staff strategy structures tion tional trafficking United Nations UNPROFOR UNTAET violence against women women's movement women's NGOs women's organizations Zarkov