Katrina Lee-Koo

Horror and Hope: (re)presenting militarised children in global North–South relations

Abstract This article examines the (re)presentations of militarised children in contemporary global politics. In particular, it looks at the iconic image of the 21st centurys child soldier, the subject of which is constructed as a menacing yet pitiable product of the so-called new wars of the global South. Yet this familiar image is a small, one-dimensional and selective (re)presentation of the issues facing children who are associated with conflict and militarism. In this sense it is a problematic focal point for analysing the insecurity and human rights of children in and around conflict. Instead, this article argues that the image of the child soldier asserts an important influence in its effect upon global North–South relations. It demonstrates how the image of the child soldier can assist in constructing knowledge about the global South, and the global Norths obligations to it, either through programmes of humanitarianism, or through war.

Implementing Australia's National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325

Australias victory in securing temporary seats on the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations Executive Board has been much celebrated. This provides an important platform for Australia to further the agenda of womens rights worldwide. As part of this agenda, Australia has provided a commitment to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security through the development of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012–2018, released in 2012. This article examines the early thoughts and efforts towards the implementation of this plan. It demonstrates that while there is a broad rhetorical commitment to implementation by Australian actors, there are nonetheless challenges that may threaten its success. Based in part upon interviews with Australian government representatives and policy makers, and activists and advocates of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, this article highlights the success, challenges and opportunities that have so far been associated with implementing this important Resolution.

Engaging UNSCR 1325 through Australia’s National Action Plan

This article examines Australia’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) within the context of global debates on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and its associated resolutions. It demonstrates that Australia has made a strong rhetorical commitment to the United Nations WPS agenda that aligns itself with global feminist goals to enhance the protection and political participation of women in conflict-affected regions. Rhetorically, Australia also supports a broad conceptualisation of global security that challenges the gender relations that create women’s insecurity. However, these words fail the test of practice. The 2012 Australian NAP lacks the architecture to ensure strong, consistent, and comprehensive action on the WPS agenda. This article explores the sites of these failures and argues that addressing these issues is the first necessary step towards reconnecting government rhetoric with WPS outcomes.

Ethics and Global Security : A Cosmopolitan Approach

Introduction 1. Paradigms 2. Identity 3. Force 4. Environment 5. Terror 6. Humanitarianism Conclusion

Gender-Based Violence Against Civilian Women in Postinvasion Iraq (Re)Politicizing George W. Bush’s Silent Legacy

This article explores the increase in gender-based violence against civilian women in Iraq since 2003 and connects it to the U.S.-led invasion of that country. It outlines the complex nature of the gender-based violence and the impact that it has had on civilian women in Iraq. It then analyzes the links between this violence and the politics of the postinvasion period. This article also explores how this violence has been politicized. Ultimately, the article (re)politicizes gender-based violence through a feminist lens and argues that the security of Iraq’s women is fundamental to the stability of Iraq as a whole.

Textbooks and the teaching of International Relations

Undergraduate teaching secures the future of International Relations (IR). It engages the students who will become the discipline’s scholars. Just as importantly, it produces the policy-makers, analysts, diplomats, activists, advocates, teachers and engaged citizens who will determine the direction of global politics. The presentation of the discipline through key texts is therefore important. As powerful as the classroom, what we set our students to read will inspire the best of them. It will help them develop critical skills and provide them with the tools to undertake a career in the field. A quality introductory text is consequently an entry point and a guide into the discipline. IR texts are not benign. They may claim to be neutral but they are never without bias. In this sense, they form part of a disciplinary battleground. They can be weapons Australian Journal of Political Science, 2015 Vol. 50, No. 2, 380–389, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2015.1038778

Not suitable for children: the politicisation of conflict-affected children in post-2001 Afghanistan

The 2001 conflict in Afghanistan has attracted a great deal of international controversy. The impact of the conflict on Afghanistans children has been no exception. The research conducted by the United Nations and child protection organisations on the experiences of Afghan children throughout the conflict paints a bleak picture. Accounts of children being directly targeted, accidently killed, abducted, actively fighting in armed groups, denied humanitarian assistance or simply struggling to be healthy, happy, educated and secure amid this conflict are a reminder that conflict devastates childrens lives. However, while this research demonstrates that children are often wars innocent victims, the ways in which this research is narrated, particularly by belligerent parties to the conflict, are far from innocent. This article examines the political manipulation of research on Afghan children affected by armed conflict. It argues that Afghan children and their experiences have become a powerful moral symbol that is used by belligerents to advance political, military and strategic agendas.

gender at the crossroad of conflict: tsunami and peace in post-2005 Aceh

After the devastating tsunami hit the northern Sumatran coastline in December 2004, the Indonesian province of Aceh found itself at a crossroad. This crossroad intersected the three-decade-long civil war, the move towards peace and the need for post-disaster recovery. This article analyses the gendered politics embedded in Acehs navigation through this crossroad. First, it argues that both the conflict and the subsequent peace process were marginalised by the international programmes of post-tsunami recovery. Second, it demonstrates that within this marginalisation, womens investments in both war and peace were further neglected throughout the formal peace process. Third, it highlights how the peace process reflected a narrow, masculinist and public sphere agenda that silenced both women and the gendered issues affecting them. In short, this article seeks to unveil the gendered politics of war and peace in post-tsunami Aceh. It does so with the feminist ambition of demonstrating that sustainable and comprehensive peace in Aceh cannot be secured without recognising and accounting for the impact that the conflict has upon gendered identities.

Critical Feminist International Relations in the Asia-Pacific

In a review appearing on the back cover of Jindy Pettman’s 1996 book Worlding Women, Cynthia Enloe suggests that the value of the work is its brazen courage to ask simple questions about international relations. Worlding Women poses questions like, “What can a Filipina mail-order bride living in Sydney, Australia tell us about lofty theorizing in international politics?” The answer, Enloe replies, is “a lot.” Through Worlding Women, Jindy Pettman is one of the pioneers of the project “to make visible places and ways that women are in the world.”1 Like Enloe’s own work, and the work of many since, the straightforward, yet extraordinary value of critical feminist investigations into international relations demonstrates a curiosity regarding how international relations affects and is affected by gendered identities. To those outside the discipline of international relations (IR) this may seem a simple task, yet feminists working inside the discipline know that that is exactly what it is not. It is a testament to the foundationally unsettling nature of critical feminist IR that feminists have faced decades of difficulties in having questions of gender taken seriously. This is because such an enquiry encourages us to challenge the boundaries of the discipline of ‘international relations’ by exploring the totality of ‘global politics.’ While the discipline of international relations reserves its reference for the ‘high politics’ of statecraft in the international system, critical feminist IR scholars concern themselves with the breadth of global politics.

The Iron Butterfly and the Political Warrior: mobilising models of femininity in the Australian Liberal Party

ABSTRACT Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and former Prime Minister Tony Abbotts Chief of Staff Peta Credlin have experienced very different political fortunes. Once the two most powerful women in the Australian Liberal Party, Credlins political demise was mired in controversy, while Bishop continues to enjoy the support of her Party and the public. While there are many reasons for this, the article focuses on the gendered politics surrounding their experiences. Based on analysis of the media representations of Bishop and Credlin between 2011 and 2015, we argue that Bishop successfully negotiates gender politics by deploying the Iron Butterfly model of conservative femininity, while Credlins fierce Political Warrior persona saw her pilloried.