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militarism, conflict and women's activism in the global era: challenges and prospects for women in three West African contexts

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Feminist Review

Abstract

This article develops a feminist perspective on militarism in Africa, drawing examples from the Nigerian, Sierra Leonean and Liberian civil wars spanning several decades to examine women's participation in the conflict, their survival and livelihood strategies, and their activism. We argue that postcolonial conflicts epitomise some of the worst excesses of militarism in the era of neoliberal globalisation, and that the economic, organisational and ideological features of militarism undermine the prospects for democratisation, social justice and genuine security, especially for women, in post-war societies. Theorisations of ‘new wars’ and the war economy are taken as entry points to a discussion of the conceptual and policy challenges posed by the enduring and systemic cultural and material aspects of militarism. These include the contradictory ways in which women are affected by the complex relationship between gendered capitalist processes and militarism, and the manner in which women negotiate their lives through both. Finally, we highlight the potential of transnational feminist theorising and activism for strengthening intellectual and political solidarities and argue that the globalised military security system can be our ‘common context for struggle’ as contemporary feminist activist scholars.

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Notes

  1. Kaldor, M. (2001) ‘Beyond militarism, arms races and arms control’, Prepared for Nobel Peace Prize Centennial, available on SSRC website, http://essays.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/kaldor.htm, last accessed June 2011.

  2. Kaldor, M. (2001) ‘Beyond militarism, arms races and arms control’, Prepared for Nobel Peace Prize Centennial, available on SSRC website, http://essays.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/kaldor.htm, last accessed June 2011.

  3. Ali-Dinar, A.B. (1999) ‘Sierra Leone: the main players 5/12/99’, IRIN UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Hornet/irin_51299b.html, last accessed June 2011.

  4. See Coulter, 2009 and Mazurana, D. and Carlson, K. (2004) ‘From combat to community: women and girls of Sierra Leone’, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Sierra_Leone/sierraleoneindex.html, last accessed June 2009.

  5. Mazurana, D. and Carlson, K. (2004) ‘From combat to community: women and girls of Sierra Leone’, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 12, http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Sierra_Leone/sierraleoneindex.html, last accessed June 2009.

  6. Lomé Peace Accord (1999), http://www.sierra-leone.org/lomeaccord.html, last accessed August 2011.

  7. UNHCR (2006) ‘Refugees by the Numbers,’ 2006 Edition, http://www.unhcr.org/basics/BASICS/3b028097c.html#Refugees, last accessed June 2011.

  8. United Nations Security Council (2011) Twenty-third progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Liberia, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2011/497, last accessed September 2011.

  9. Amnesty International (2008) ‘Liberia: A Flawed Process that Discriminates Against Women and Girls’, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR34/004/2008/en, last accessed June 2009.

  10. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3181529.stm and http://www.girlswithguns.org/news/news0008.htm.

  11. Also see Clarke, Y. (2009) ‘Security sector reform in Africa: a lost opportunity to deconstruct militarised masculinities?’ Feminist Africa 10, http://www.feministafrica.org, accessed June 2011.

  12. Gender and Human Security Network Manifesto (1999), http://www.gwynkirk.net/pdf/gender_and_human_sec.pdf.

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Mama, A., Okazawa-Rey, M. militarism, conflict and women's activism in the global era: challenges and prospects for women in three West African contexts. Fem Rev 101, 97–123 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2011.57

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