Hot Potato Imperial Wars or Benevolent Interventions ? Reflections on " Global Feminism " Post September (original) (raw)
Related papers
2002
This essay aims to provide some reflections on feminist theory and practice in a post September 11th environment. Specifically, it aims to address whether some dominant and popular strands of "global feminism" are able to analyze and offer alternatives to an understanding of global relations between women specifically, and First World/Third World relations in general, in the aftermath of September 11th. Feminist reflections on this question are needed not only because of the enormity of events and developments that beg a feminist perspective, among others, to respond thoughtfully and sensibly to what is going on. Feminist reflections are also needed, specifically, as the war waged in Afghanistan is being presented as a humanitarian war which is about saving women. While there is some diversity among feminist responses to the US political response to September 11th there is as yet little challenge to this image of the war. The fact that the Taliban regime which the war in A...
Imperial Wars or Benevolent Interventions? Reflections on "Global Feminism" Post September 11th
This essay aims to provide some reflections on feminist theory and practice in a post September 11th environment. Specifically, it aims to address whether some dominant and popular strands of "global feminism" are able to analyze and offer alternatives to an understanding of global relations between women specifically, and First World/Third World relations in general, in the aftermath of September 11th. Feminist reflections on this question are needed not only because of the enormity of events and developments that beg a feminist perspective, among others, to respond thoughtfully and sensibly to what is going on. Feminist reflections are also needed, specifically, as the war waged in Afghanistan is being presented as a humanitarian war which is about saving women. While there is some diversity among feminist responses to the US political response to September 11th there is as yet little challenge to this image of the war.
A Feminist Critique of the 2001 US' Invasion of Afghanistan: Theoretical Utility and Shortcomings
This paper employs tenets of Feminist international relations theory in an effort to analyze the US' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. This research has two aims: first, it seeks to apply a feminist reading of the invasion itself based on underlying motives for US' action, as well as the rhetorical mechanisms employed by the Bush administration surrounding intervention; second, the application of feminist international relations theory is critically evaluated in a reflective manner for its theoretical utility and shortcomings.
War, Women, and the Question of Feminist Intervention in Afghanistan
Can a military intervention ever be feminist? Fourteen years ago, when the U.S. was first invading Afghanistan, its first and most obvious justification was to find Osama bin Laden and to remove the Taliban government that had allowed him to operate within their borders. However, another rationale the George W. Bush administration utilized to garner support for the initial invasion, and that has been brought up repeatedly to justify the continuation of that war: to protect and free Afghan women. The coupling of women’s liberation with the American invasion may delegitimize the movement, and furthermore necessitate ongoing occupation to prevent losses. Furthermore, the fact that Afghanistan was the world’s most dangerous place to be a woman after a decade of U.S. efforts to improve the lot of Afghan women does not bode well for the success of that American endeavor. With that in mind, it is important to question whether a military intervention can serve feminist ends (defining feminism simply as the political, social, and economic equality between the sexes.)
American Society of International Law Journal - Unbound, 2022
Rescuing the "other woman" has been an intractable feature of international and human rights legal interventions. This rescue narrative configures the "other woman," invariably third world or from the Global South, as left behind in the movement toward progress and modernity. Part of the solution envisages the rescue and incorporation of the "other woman" into liberal rights discourse-the teleological endpoint of emancipation. Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) and postcolonial feminist critiques have exposed the racial and civilizational discourses that shape these rescue missions and the epistemic violence they engender. Using the example of the military invasion and occupation of Afghanistan from 2001-2021, I demonstrate how these discourses persist in contemporary women's human rights agendas and the carceral and securitized logics that they serve. I discuss the need to delink rights from rescue missions and the epistemic shifts required to move the critique in a meaningful and productive direction.
Dynamis, 2024
This article is concerned with the ways in which humanitarian imaginaries in post-9/11 Afghanistan have shaped representations of women's needs as well as programs designed to answer them. Its aim is to examine the 'dark side' of care and the politics of worthiness on which humanitarianism relies. In conversation with scholars who have highlighted the disciplinary aspects of care, I show how apparently well-intentioned humanitarian discourses and practices have drawn boundaries within the Afghan population and reinforced nationalist sentiments. I argue that Orientalist imaginaries of Muslim women in need of rescue did not only serve to justify the military intervention but also the presence of international humanitarian organizations. Furthermore, such colonial fantasies have actualized specific regimes of care based on liberal notions of self-empowerment. The technologies of the 'self' on which these programs have relied have overlooked the various forms of structural inequalities responsible for triggering crises in the first place and the broader dynamics of violence and abandonment that have marked the history of the West's engagement with Afghanistan since the 1990s. The return of the Taliban in 2021 should therefore not solely be understood as the mere result of military strategies and political negotiations but also as the outcome of a broader movement of resistance against this humanitarian ideology, locally perceived as a form of cultural imperialism.
Woman, War, and the Politics of Emancipation in Afghanistan
LSE Policy Review, 2022
During the twenty years of war in Afghanistan much attention was focussed on the issue of female human rights. The emancipation of women from the rule and legacies of the Taliban was a core objective of Western states. This article traces the resistance within communities and regions to these liberal endeavours and highlights the challenges of imposing rather than embedding values. We note that the Afghan state has always struggled to provide basic human rights for its population, especially for its women. Until those needs are addressed, full emancipation through education and representation of women in society is unlikely. As a case study the country provides an understanding of feminism from a female Afghan perspective as well as an opportunity to explore the human rights context for women generally. Hence, we explain how this war allowed females in Western military forces to operate with greater gender equality on the frontline. Further research has the potential to reveal useful lessons in how female emancipation may be facilitated through an improved understanding of cultural contexts and an appreciation of how basic human rights such as the right to life and security are a prerequisite for female emancipation.