In this superbly sensitive and conceptually innovative book, we see the constitutive nature of women's peace activism and the radically changing international political context of the period from World War II to the mid-1970s in action. This is no small feat, but Confortini goes further, clearly articulating a productive relationship between feminist methodology, constructivism, and international relations theory that should be read by all students of feminism, international relations, and peace studies.

Cecelia Lynch, University of California, Irvine

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has a unique role in post-war peace activism. It is the longest-surviving international women's peace organization and one of the oldest peace organizations in the West. It was founded in 1915, when a group of women from countries fighting in World War I met at The Hague to formulate proposals for ending the war. The organization sent delegations of women to several countries to plead for peace, and their final resolutions are credited with influencing Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points. Today, the organization counts several thousand members in 36 countries, on five continents. Since 1948, it has enjoyed consultative status with the UN, and it was instrumental in bringing about recent United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security. Beginning in 1945, WILPF began identifying the limitations of its ideological foundations in relation to the international liberal order. Confortini argues that this period ushered in a turn in the organization's policies and activism, one that lasted until the mid-70s and served as an important antecedent to feminist activism that continues today. By tracing the organization's changing strategies and ideas over a thirty-year period, Intelligent Compassion seeks to answer to what extent activists can transcend the prevailing practices of their eras. Confortini argues that this history is important theoretically because it inspires the development of a critical constructivist theory of agency that advances the agent-structure debate in International Relations theory.
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Intelligent Compassion traces changes in the ideas and policies of the longest-living international women's organization between 1945 and 1975. Focusing on disarmament, decolonization and the Middle East, it finds answers to IR questions about the possibility of emancipatory agency in the theoretical practices of women peace activists.
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List of Acronyms ; Chapter 1 What is Feminist Peace? ; Chapter 2 Feminist Critical Methodology, Peace and Social Change ; Chapter 3 "Evidence of Things Unseen": WILPF and Disarmament ; Chapter 4 What is Violence? WILPF and Decolonization ; Chapter 5 Orientalism and Peace: WILPF in the Middle East ; Chapter 6 Conclusion: Feminist Ways to Peace ; Epilogue ; Bibliography
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"In this superbly sensitive and conceptually innovative book, we see the constitutive nature of women's peace activism and the radically changing international political context of the period from World War II to the mid-1970s in action. This is no small feat, but Confortini goes further, clearly articulating a productive relationship between feminist methodology, constructivism, and international relations theory that should be read by all students of feminism, international relations, and peace studies."--Cecelia Lynch, University of California, Irvine "Catia Cecilia Confortini has written a critical history of a thinking, political, activist organization. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom survives the devastation of World War II and remains an organization engaged with the world's pressing threats to peace. In this well-researched book, Confortini writes candidly about the challenges of a women's organization that was practically, by definition, marginal to world politics at its founding. She asks how can peace activists transcend the values of their times given that they are in part shaped by those values. Confortini reveals WILPF to be an organization that needs to challenge itself by confronting the relative privilege of its members and identifies the methods by which WILPF does this through disarmament, decolonization and the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict."--Brooke Ackerly, Vanderbilt University
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Selling point: Focuses on 1945-1975, a period of women's activism not often studied Selling point: Draws upon archival sources of oldest international women's organization Selling point: Includes original interviews with women peace activists
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Catia Cecilia Confortini is Assistant Professor of Peace and Justice Studies at Wellesley College. Her research interests focus on the contribution of women's peace activism to peace studies as an academic field and as a practice. She is the US representative to WILPF's International Board for 2011-2014.
Les mer
Selling point: Focuses on 1945-1975, a period of women's activism not often studied Selling point: Draws upon archival sources of oldest international women's organization Selling point: Includes original interviews with women peace activists
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199845231
Publisert
2012
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
553 gr
Høyde
160 mm
Bredde
236 mm
Dybde
20 mm
Aldersnivå
UU, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
240

Biographical note

Catia Cecilia Confortini is Assistant Professor of Peace and Justice Studies at Wellesley College. Her research interests focus on the contribution of women's peace activism to peace studies as an academic field and as a practice. She is the US representative to WILPF's International Board for 2011-2014.