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Uncovering the (ethno)gendered dimensions of ’unconventional’ state war and its effect on non-combatants/(ethno)nationalist ’women’

University of British Columbia

The exploitation and extermination of people in the context of internal conflict in the former Yugoslavia is a grave injustice and the result of a systematic policy of war by an unconventional state. Internal conflict requires investigation by international relations scholars because it is evidence of the changing nature of war. Given that both the methods of violence (ethnic cleansing, systematic/genocidal rape, and sexual torture) and (ethno)nationalism are gendered, a 'new' approach to war is needed. Traditional international relations theoretical approaches to the state, anarchy, and war/peace prove unable to analyze: one, the unconventional state (structure); two, the dichotomous separation of the public/international/external/formal/masculine/autonomous from the private/domestic/internal/informal/feminine/vulnerable; three, unconventional war policy; and four, the 'new' actors, the external and internal 'Others,' the 'Invisibles,' the noncombatants/ civilians, the 'women' (women and men; people with identities). Thinking that will lead to solutions for the dilemma of war, inclusively defined, will be - to employ Joy Kogawa's word - merciful; it will not exclude people and, while critical, it will be hopeful that the protection of both human dignity and community is in the 'national interest,' in 'our and their interest' as political/social/economic/etc. beings. Because it analyzes dichotomies and deals with the role of identity in the various aspects of (changing) war, a feminist or gendered/identity-deconstructivist approach is advanced as a means to more effectively examine internal/international conflicts, such as the former Yugoslav wars - i.e., unconventional wars whose character challenges the rigid traditionalist international relations definition of war.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-06-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9824

Political Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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