Fionnuala Ní Aoláin
Biographic Data
| ID | 90519 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fionnuala Ní Aoláin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fionnuala Ní |
| FAMILY NAME | Aoláin |
| SIGNATURE | AOLÁIN F N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Ulster |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5909-8976 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 104 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 11 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Colombia, Covid-19, and the Colonial Trap: Reflections on the Politics of Knowledge Production
The COVID-19 pandemic has made historical and contemporary colonial relationships between and within states more fraught. This complexity is apparent within the research process itself, adding a new dimension to debates on positionality and the politics of knowledge production. Drawing on critical approaches to International Relations, and in dialogue with an emerging literature on the implications of the pandemic for knowledge decolonization, we…
Las comisiones de la verdad y los legados coloniales: Lecciones desde Colombia (2018-2022)
With its signing of the Havana Peace Agreement in 2016, Colombia sought to end an armed conflict that had lasted more than sixty years and had left nearly nine million victims. The agreement led to the establishment of a transitional justice (TJ) framework, including the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition (CEV). This study identifies how the CEV incorporated the legacies of colonialism into its analytical f…
Navigating colonial debris: Structural challenges for Colombia’s peace accord
In recent years, interest has grown in how Transitional Justice (TJ) can approach colonial harms and their long-lasting effects, because of a lacuna in both TJ practice and academic research . Scant attention has been paid, particularly, to how peace processes themselves can be undermined by ongoing colonial legacies. In this article, we offer an in-depth case study on Colombia, particularly the Havana Peace Accord of 2016, and discuss how the de…
Soft Law’, Informal Lawmaking and ‘New Institutions’ in the Global Counter-Terrorism Architecture
This article assesses the increasingly important and diverse role undertaken by a range of ‘soft-law’ counter-terrorism instruments since September 2001. It starts from the proposition that states increasingly use soft-law standards to regulate in the counter-terrorism, countering violent extremism and preventing violent extremism arenas. The article identifies a broad range of soft-law instruments and assesses their normative and practical impor…
The Contemporary Exercise of Emergency Powers: Reflections on Permanence, Impermanence and Challenging Times
Emergencies are often unforeseen and unexpected phenomena which require immediate action. Emergencies can be political, social, economic, sanitary and ecological in nature. While acknowledging that a range of different kinds of emergencies require governments to respond by law, this contribution is focused on the ways in which the protection of human rights must be ensured in situations when terrorism, violent-extremism and counter-terrorism can …
Transitional Justice from the Margins: Intersections of Identities, Power and Human Rights
The Feminist Institutional Dimensions of Power-Sharing and Political Settlements
This article applies key insights from feminist institutionalist analysis to power-sharing and political settlement in postconflict societies. Drawing on the concept of “gender orders,” allied with considerations of the informal and highly masculine rituals and rules that pervade institutional political life, the article demonstrates how apparent gendered gains in power-sharing are limited in their transformative effect. Despite a greater emphasi…
Colonialism, Redress and Transitional Justice: Ireland and Beyond
The article begins by addressing the contribution and limits of postcolonial studies to the understanding of colonialism; in particular, it critiques the field's fixation on the discursive to the detriment of the material reality of colonialism. We then examine the intellectual history of transitional justice (TJ) as a field and a practice and itemize some of the criticisms made of its shortcomings, not least in relation to colonial harms. These …
L’exercice contemporain des pouvoirs d’urgence: Réflexions Sur La Permanence, La Non-Permanence Et Les Ordres Juridiques Administratifs
En identifiant, à travers le monde, de nouvelles tendances et pratiques étatiques en matière d’utilisation de pouvoirs exceptionnels pour des considérations de sécurité nationale ou d’urgence depuis les évènements du 11 septembre 2001, cet article isole un certain nombre de tendances pernicieuses dans la pratique antiterroriste qui peuvent avoir des conséquences particulièrement néfastes sur la protection des droits de l’homme, notamment celles r…
Gendered Suffering and the Eviction of the Native
The treatment of pregnant women in Palestine offers an important perspective on the interlocking power of gender and race in the context of settler colonialism. However, the gendered violence experienced by pregnant women remains mostly invisible. This chapter shares the voices of pregnant Palestinians to explore how they experience specific forms of gendered violence in a militarized and occupied homeland. It explains the steps taken by Israel t…
Rwanda
Since the end of the genocide and civil war in Rwanda, various measures have been implemented to facilitate women’s political participation. This chapter looks to post-conflict Rwanda as a case study in the successes and limitations in efforts to increase women’s participation in public life. The chapter details the desired outcomes of increased political participation by women before turning to the Rwandan example. It argues that while the incre…
Northern Ireland
Women’s activism played an important role in conflict transformation in Northern Ireland, from the early civil rights activists to the development of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition political party. This chapter follows the history of activism in Northern Ireland, using the trajectory to illustrate how the exclusion of women from formal institutions resulted in a women’s movement that became an alternative means for creating change. It ide…
Women’s Organizations and Peace Initiatives
Women’s peace movements in the post–Cold War era frequently share three common characteristics: a grassroots and local focus due to exclusion from formal peace negotiations; an early and sustained commitment to bridging differences between factions; and the use of international and regional pressures to create success on the local level. This chapter reviews each of these characteristics through case studies. Examples from Sri Lanka, Somalia, and…
Gender and Peacekeeping
This chapter examines three manifestations of gender in peacekeeping: the gender of those serving as peacekeepers; gendered hierarchies within peacekeeping missions; and the gendered discourse used by the United Nations when discussing women peacekeepers. The chapter provides statistics on the numbers of female peacekeepers historically and by assignment. Using the concept of hegemonic masculinity, the chapter explores how protection masculinity …
Complementarity and Convergence?
This chapter analyses the gender dimension of terrorism and counterterrorism efforts. It explores women’s roles as both supporters and preventers of terrorism. It tracks the increasing incorporation of gender in the counterterrorism strategy of the United Nations and the growing focus on the intersections between the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and countering terrorism agendas. The chapter suggests that the WPS Agenda and the countering viol…
Conflict, Displacement, and Refugees
This chapter examines the treatment of gender within the forced migration context. It addresses the gendered harms that occur through displacement and the gendered consequences for individuals, families and communities of displacement. It critiques the international community’s response to entrenched gender problems when responding to the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and addresses the marginalization of gender as a …
Women, Peace Negotiations, and Peace Agreements
Peace agreements, seeking to end conflict and establish a road map for the future, have significant effects on women’s lives, yet historically women have been absent from peace processes. This chapter examines obstacles that often limit women’s involvement in peace negotiations, despite the creation of an international framework that supports the inclusion of women in such processes. The chapter reviews the pragmatic opportunities and challenges …
The Promise and Limits of Indicators on Women, Peace and Security
This chapter focuses on the rapid proliferation of data-driven indicators to track the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 internationally, regionally, and nationally. The chapter presents both the critiques and the strengths of such indicators and summarizes current debates around them. It questions the adequacy of indicators primarily because they value process over results and can be manipulated to produce predetermined results.…
The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict
The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict brings together leading interdisciplinary scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to address a complex range of challenges, contexts, geographies, and issues that arise for women and men in the context of armed conflict. The Handbook addresses war and peace, humanitarian intervention, countering violence and extremism, the United Nations Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, sexual violence, criminal acco…
Unlocking the Potential of Cedaw as an Important Accountability Tool for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda
This chapter explores the application of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to conflict and post-conflict contexts as detailed in General Recommendation 30. It examines the implications of CEDAW and General Recommendation 30 on gender-based violence, the trafficking of women, the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, women’s participation, and women’s access to health, education, emp…
The relationship of political settlement analysis to peacebuilding from a feminist perspective
In the policy literature addressing bilateral state engagement with fragile, conflicted or weakened states, the language of ‘political settlement’ appears increasingly ubiquitous. But much of the emerging literature is gender blind, and there is little by way of comprehensive scholarly or policy literature available to elucidate the gender dimensions of political settlement. This article explores both how the definition of ‘political settlement’ …
The 'war on terror' and extremism: Assessing the relevance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda
Recognizing the critique of sexual essentialism in the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, this article moves beyond this familiar narrative to address the narrowness of conflict frames that have to date been engaged by the WPS agenda. The events of 11 September 2001 brought new urgency and vibrancy to state action in the realm of counterterrorism. This momentum was illustrated both by the response of national legal systems and by more concer…
Feminism facing international law
Through the Looking Glass: Transitional Justice Futures through the Lens of Nationalism, Feminism and Transformative Change
In reflecting on the contemporary challenges and future directions of transitional justice theory and practice, this article addresses causality, accountability and political form in a triangulated assessment of nationalism’s power and ‘stickiness’ in the present formulations of transitional solutions. Addressing the identity politics of transitional justice brings us to assess the political forms that enable, define and consume transition with a…
Gendered Harms and their Interface with International Criminal Law: Norms, Challenges and Domestication
Many feminists have questioned the extent to which the law can ever effectively deter violence against women given the ways in which the law and criminal justice systems often act to reinforce deeply sexist assumptions about women, their sexual and social identities and their relation to the social (male) world. While acknowledging law's ineffectiveness in fundamentally reordering social relations, a number of scholars and policy makers believe t…
Justice Discourses in Transition
This article asserts that ‘transitional justice’ analyses provide important tools in understanding how societies emerge from violent politics. It argues for a conception of transitional justice that goes beyond the question of dealing with the legacy of past human rights violations; rather, its focus is on a range of inter-related dilemmas relating to the role of law in transitional societies. Specifically, the article explores the pivotal and pa…
Underenforcement and Intersectionality: Gendered Aspects of Transition for Women
The transitional justice field has generally been preoccupied by ‘dealing with the past.’ Increasingly, it is also understood as enabling conflicted or politically unstable societies to integrate liberal democratic norms into processes of state-building or regime reform. Building on previous work, this article asserts that transitional justice encompasses far more in conceptual and policy terms. Two substantive arenas have generally been overlook…
Advancing Feminist Positioning in the Field of Transitional Justice
This article contributes to an ongoing conversation among feminist scholars about what constitutes feminist positioning with regard to the central issues that define transitions from conflict or repression towards more liberal polities. The analysis suggests that the feminist presence in transitional justice is complex, multilayered and still in the process of full engagement. Concentrating on the genealogy of this presence, the article reflects …
The 'war on terror' and extremism: Assessing the relevance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda
Recognizing the critique of sexual essentialism in the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, this article moves beyond this familiar narrative to address the narrowness of conflict frames that have to date been engaged by the WPS agenda. The events of 11 September 2001 brought new urgency and vibrancy to state action in the realm of counterterrorism. This momentum was illustrated both by the response of national legal systems and by more concer…
Gendered Harms and their Interface with International Criminal Law: Norms, Challenges and Domestication
Many feminists have questioned the extent to which the law can ever effectively deter violence against women given the ways in which the law and criminal justice systems often act to reinforce deeply sexist assumptions about women, their sexual and social identities and their relation to the social (male) world. While acknowledging law's ineffectiveness in fundamentally reordering social relations, a number of scholars and policy makers believe t…
Through the Looking Glass: Transitional Justice Futures through the Lens of Nationalism, Feminism and Transformative Change
In reflecting on the contemporary challenges and future directions of transitional justice theory and practice, this article addresses causality, accountability and political form in a triangulated assessment of nationalism’s power and ‘stickiness’ in the present formulations of transitional solutions. Addressing the identity politics of transitional justice brings us to assess the political forms that enable, define and consume transition with a…
The Frontiers of Legal Analysis: Reframing the Transition in Northern Ireland
British constitutional legal discourse is structurally limited in its capacity to capture the complexity of the Good Friday Agreement. Rather than assessing the Agreement in narrow devolutionary terms, it should be seen as a hybrid domestic and international law instrument, making an important contribution to accepted international law norms in relation to self‐determination. The Agreement transforms and partly transcends the Northern Ireland con…
Navigating colonial debris: Structural challenges for Colombia’s peace accord
In recent years, interest has grown in how Transitional Justice (TJ) can approach colonial harms and their long-lasting effects, because of a lacuna in both TJ practice and academic research . Scant attention has been paid, particularly, to how peace processes themselves can be undermined by ongoing colonial legacies. In this article, we offer an in-depth case study on Colombia, particularly the Havana Peace Accord of 2016, and discuss how the de…
Transitional Justice from the Margins: Intersections of Identities, Power and Human Rights
Colonialism, Redress and Transitional Justice: Ireland and Beyond
The article begins by addressing the contribution and limits of postcolonial studies to the understanding of colonialism; in particular, it critiques the field's fixation on the discursive to the detriment of the material reality of colonialism. We then examine the intellectual history of transitional justice (TJ) as a field and a practice and itemize some of the criticisms made of its shortcomings, not least in relation to colonial harms. These …
Transitional justice: (Re)conceptualising the Field
Transitional justice discourse is generally accepted as having its foundations located in the theoretical, policy and practical implications of dealing with past human rights violations in societies that have experienced either repressive politics or violent conflict. Many theorists and policy-makers resolutely assume or defend the notion that ‘dealing with the past’ is where the debates about, and contribution of, the transitional justice paradi…
The Feminist Institutional Dimensions of Power-Sharing and Political Settlements
This article applies key insights from feminist institutionalist analysis to power-sharing and political settlement in postconflict societies. Drawing on the concept of “gender orders,” allied with considerations of the informal and highly masculine rituals and rules that pervade institutional political life, the article demonstrates how apparent gendered gains in power-sharing are limited in their transformative effect. Despite a greater emphasi…
The relationship of political settlement analysis to peacebuilding from a feminist perspective
In the policy literature addressing bilateral state engagement with fragile, conflicted or weakened states, the language of ‘political settlement’ appears increasingly ubiquitous. But much of the emerging literature is gender blind, and there is little by way of comprehensive scholarly or policy literature available to elucidate the gender dimensions of political settlement. This article explores both how the definition of ‘political settlement’ …
Expanding the Boundaries of Transitional Justice
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Feminism facing international law
The Evolving Jurisprudence of the European Convention concerning the Right to Life
Article 2 of the European Convention protects the foremost of all rights – the right to life. Until recently it has received little judicial attention from the European Court and Commission. This article argues that before the McCann vs United Kingdom decision the European Human Rights regime was hesitant and conservative in its approach to the appropriate level of protection for the right to life. McCann was a turning point. The Court widened pr…
The Evolving Jurisprudence of the European Convention concerning the Right to Life
Article 2 of the European Convention protects the foremost of all rights – the right to life. Until recently it has received little judicial attention from the European Court and Commission. This article argues that before the McCann vs United Kingdom decision the European Human Rights regime was hesitant and conservative in its approach to the appropriate level of protection for the right to life. McCann was a turning point. The Court widened pr…
The Frontiers of Legal Analysis: Reframing the Transition in Northern Ireland
British constitutional legal discourse is structurally limited in its capacity to capture the complexity of the Good Friday Agreement. Rather than assessing the Agreement in narrow devolutionary terms, it should be seen as a hybrid domestic and international law instrument, making an important contribution to accepted international law norms in relation to self‐determination. The Agreement transforms and partly transcends the Northern Ireland con…
Justice Discourses in Transition
This article asserts that ‘transitional justice’ analyses provide important tools in understanding how societies emerge from violent politics. It argues for a conception of transitional justice that goes beyond the question of dealing with the legacy of past human rights violations; rather, its focus is on a range of inter-related dilemmas relating to the role of law in transitional societies. Specifically, the article explores the pivotal and pa…
Law in Times of Crisis: Emergency Powers in Theory and Practice
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the ensuing 'war on terror' have focused attention on issues that have previously lurked in a dark corner at the edge of the legal universe. This book presents a systematic and comprehensive attempt by legal scholars to conceptualize the theory of emergency powers, combining post-September 11 developments with more general theoretical, historical and comparative perspectives. The authors examine th…
Underenforcement and Intersectionality: Gendered Aspects of Transition for Women
The transitional justice field has generally been preoccupied by ‘dealing with the past.’ Increasingly, it is also understood as enabling conflicted or politically unstable societies to integrate liberal democratic norms into processes of state-building or regime reform. Building on previous work, this article asserts that transitional justice encompasses far more in conceptual and policy terms. Two substantive arenas have generally been overlook…
Transitional justice: (Re)conceptualising the Field
Transitional justice discourse is generally accepted as having its foundations located in the theoretical, policy and practical implications of dealing with past human rights violations in societies that have experienced either repressive politics or violent conflict. Many theorists and policy-makers resolutely assume or defend the notion that ‘dealing with the past’ is where the debates about, and contribution of, the transitional justice paradi…
Expanding the Boundaries of Transitional Justice
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
On the FrontlinesGender, War, and the Post-Conflict Process: Gender, War, and the Post-Conflict Process
Today, in a variety of post-conflict settings international advocates for women's rights have focused on bringing issues of sexual violence, discrimination and exclusion into peace-making processes. 'On the Frontlines' consider such policies and assess the extent to which they have had success in improving women's lives.
Criminal Justice for Gendered Violence and Beyond
This article focuses on the advancements in and limitations of international criminal law to address the range of harms experienced by women in times of armed conflict. International criminal law is an important tool, but not the only relevant structure or institution that has a role to play in addressing the underlying conditions and causes that produce systematic violence for women. The long-term success of post-conflict reconstruction rests up…
Advancing Feminist Positioning in the Field of Transitional Justice
This article contributes to an ongoing conversation among feminist scholars about what constitutes feminist positioning with regard to the central issues that define transitions from conflict or repression towards more liberal polities. The analysis suggests that the feminist presence in transitional justice is complex, multilayered and still in the process of full engagement. Concentrating on the genealogy of this presence, the article reflects …
Through the Looking Glass: Transitional Justice Futures through the Lens of Nationalism, Feminism and Transformative Change
In reflecting on the contemporary challenges and future directions of transitional justice theory and practice, this article addresses causality, accountability and political form in a triangulated assessment of nationalism’s power and ‘stickiness’ in the present formulations of transitional solutions. Addressing the identity politics of transitional justice brings us to assess the political forms that enable, define and consume transition with a…
Gendered Harms and their Interface with International Criminal Law: Norms, Challenges and Domestication
Many feminists have questioned the extent to which the law can ever effectively deter violence against women given the ways in which the law and criminal justice systems often act to reinforce deeply sexist assumptions about women, their sexual and social identities and their relation to the social (male) world. While acknowledging law's ineffectiveness in fundamentally reordering social relations, a number of scholars and policy makers believe t…
Feminism facing international law
The relationship of political settlement analysis to peacebuilding from a feminist perspective
In the policy literature addressing bilateral state engagement with fragile, conflicted or weakened states, the language of ‘political settlement’ appears increasingly ubiquitous. But much of the emerging literature is gender blind, and there is little by way of comprehensive scholarly or policy literature available to elucidate the gender dimensions of political settlement. This article explores both how the definition of ‘political settlement’ …
The 'war on terror' and extremism: Assessing the relevance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda
Recognizing the critique of sexual essentialism in the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, this article moves beyond this familiar narrative to address the narrowness of conflict frames that have to date been engaged by the WPS agenda. The events of 11 September 2001 brought new urgency and vibrancy to state action in the realm of counterterrorism. This momentum was illustrated both by the response of national legal systems and by more concer…
Gendered Suffering and the Eviction of the Native
The treatment of pregnant women in Palestine offers an important perspective on the interlocking power of gender and race in the context of settler colonialism. However, the gendered violence experienced by pregnant women remains mostly invisible. This chapter shares the voices of pregnant Palestinians to explore how they experience specific forms of gendered violence in a militarized and occupied homeland. It explains the steps taken by Israel t…
Rwanda
Since the end of the genocide and civil war in Rwanda, various measures have been implemented to facilitate women’s political participation. This chapter looks to post-conflict Rwanda as a case study in the successes and limitations in efforts to increase women’s participation in public life. The chapter details the desired outcomes of increased political participation by women before turning to the Rwandan example. It argues that while the incre…
Northern Ireland
Women’s activism played an important role in conflict transformation in Northern Ireland, from the early civil rights activists to the development of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition political party. This chapter follows the history of activism in Northern Ireland, using the trajectory to illustrate how the exclusion of women from formal institutions resulted in a women’s movement that became an alternative means for creating change. It ide…
Women’s Organizations and Peace Initiatives
Women’s peace movements in the post–Cold War era frequently share three common characteristics: a grassroots and local focus due to exclusion from formal peace negotiations; an early and sustained commitment to bridging differences between factions; and the use of international and regional pressures to create success on the local level. This chapter reviews each of these characteristics through case studies. Examples from Sri Lanka, Somalia, and…
Gender and Peacekeeping
This chapter examines three manifestations of gender in peacekeeping: the gender of those serving as peacekeepers; gendered hierarchies within peacekeeping missions; and the gendered discourse used by the United Nations when discussing women peacekeepers. The chapter provides statistics on the numbers of female peacekeepers historically and by assignment. Using the concept of hegemonic masculinity, the chapter explores how protection masculinity …
Complementarity and Convergence?
This chapter analyses the gender dimension of terrorism and counterterrorism efforts. It explores women’s roles as both supporters and preventers of terrorism. It tracks the increasing incorporation of gender in the counterterrorism strategy of the United Nations and the growing focus on the intersections between the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and countering terrorism agendas. The chapter suggests that the WPS Agenda and the countering viol…
Conflict, Displacement, and Refugees
This chapter examines the treatment of gender within the forced migration context. It addresses the gendered harms that occur through displacement and the gendered consequences for individuals, families and communities of displacement. It critiques the international community’s response to entrenched gender problems when responding to the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and addresses the marginalization of gender as a …
Women, Peace Negotiations, and Peace Agreements
Peace agreements, seeking to end conflict and establish a road map for the future, have significant effects on women’s lives, yet historically women have been absent from peace processes. This chapter examines obstacles that often limit women’s involvement in peace negotiations, despite the creation of an international framework that supports the inclusion of women in such processes. The chapter reviews the pragmatic opportunities and challenges …
The Promise and Limits of Indicators on Women, Peace and Security
This chapter focuses on the rapid proliferation of data-driven indicators to track the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 internationally, regionally, and nationally. The chapter presents both the critiques and the strengths of such indicators and summarizes current debates around them. It questions the adequacy of indicators primarily because they value process over results and can be manipulated to produce predetermined results.…
The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict
The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict brings together leading interdisciplinary scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to address a complex range of challenges, contexts, geographies, and issues that arise for women and men in the context of armed conflict. The Handbook addresses war and peace, humanitarian intervention, countering violence and extremism, the United Nations Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, sexual violence, criminal acco…
Political science (34 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Law (27 works) · Politics (20 works) · Law (16 works) · Gender, Security, and Conflict (15 works) · Criminology (11 works) · Economic Justice (11 works) · Transitional justice (11 works) · Political economy (10 works)