The 'war on terror' and extremism

Assessing the relevance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda

Bibliographic Data

ID4033710
AuthorsFionnuala Ní Aoláin (0000-0002-5909-8976, Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy and Society at the University of Minnesota Law School and is concurrently Professor of Law and Associate Director at Ulster University's Transitional Justice Institute, Belfast., corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume92
Issue2
Pages275-291
Publication date2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1468-2346.12552
OpenAlexW2290203294
LanguageEN
Citations received43

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 concerted efforts to achieve multilateral and multilevel counterterrorism cooperation on the international level. Notably, terrorism and counterterrorism have long been of only marginal interest to mainstream feminist legal theorists. Until recently concerted analytical feminist scrutiny has been missing in the assessment of terrorism, radicalism and counterterrorism discourses. This article addresses the lack of attention to terrorism, counterterrorism and countering violent extremism (CVE) initiatives in the WPS mandate and its consequences for mainstreaming gender interests in foundational aspects of peace and security practice. Recent normative augmentations including UNSCR 2242 and the amplified mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee to include gender considerations are assessed. The article argues that these moves to include gender come late, and on the terms set by security-minded states. The late attention to gender in counterterrorism leaves little capacity to produce an inclusive and reimagined feminist agenda addressing the causes conducive to the production of terrorism and the costs to women of counterterrorism strategies. This pessimistic assessment warns of the pitfalls of exclusion and inclusion in the new security regimes that have been fashioned post 9/11 by states

Criminology · Mainstream · Mandate · Political science · Sociology · Terrorism · Gender, Security, and Conflict · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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