Gender and the war on terrorism : the justification of war in a post-9/11 perspective

Bok av Anna T. Höglund
In the present book, the so-called "war on terrorism" (i.e.., the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that followed the 9/11 terror attacks) is analyzed from an ethical as well as a gender perspective. through a detailed analysis of the arguments used to justify violence on both sides of the conflict, it is demonstrated how violent acts can become parts of the construction of gender. Further it is argued that debates around the ethics of "just war" rerly on particular ideas about valued masculinities and femininities, but at the same time they also serve to constrtuct forms of gender. The present analysus reveals how scholars, politicians and commentators, with or without knowledge of and references to classical just war theorist, both relied upon and created ethical theories of the just war in their rhetoric on the war on terrorism. Furthermore, the book analyze how the advocates of different positions in the debate justify their positions and how gender is constructed in and though these arguments. The conclusion of the investigation is that rhetoric that has been used to justify, or in some cases to condemn, the war against terrorism both relise upon and sustains particular constructions of masculinities and feniminities.