Refusing to take part in war is as old as war itself. This wide-ranging and original book brings together four different bodies of knowledge to examine the practice of conscientious objection: historical and philosophical analyses of conscientious objection as a critique of compulsory military service and militarization; feminist, LGBT and queer analyses of conscientious objection as a critique of patriarchy, sexism, and heterosexism; activist and academic analyses of conscientious objection as a social movement and individual act of resistance; legal analyses of the status of conscientious objection in international and national law. Conscientious objection is an increasingly important subject of academic and political debate in countries including the US, Israel and Turkey. This book provides a much needed introduction and tool for making sense of the history of nation-states in the 20th century and understanding the political developments of the early 21st century.

A postwar moment is one of promise - but too often of missed opportunities. Will peace bring a democratic, inclusive and equal society? This depends on many factors, but the contributors to this book argue that one of them - crucial but often overlooked - is the importance accorded to transforming gender power relations. Through a focus on two countries, Bosnia and the Netherlands, linked through a "peace-keeping operation," the contributors illuminate the many ways in which processes of demilitarisation and peace-keeping are structured by notions of masculinity and femininity. The Dayton Peace Agreement failed to acknowledge the gendered nature of the war it ended. Gender was also neglected by the many powerful international institutions and agencies which arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 to pacify and administer the war-torn country. Several chapters in the book consider these shortcomings in the Bosnian postwar moment, and the way they have impeded local women's efforts to reshape their world. The Dutch contingent of the UN peace-keeping forces was widely held responsible for failing to prevent the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men in Srebrenica. The self-questioning provoked in the Netherlands by this event here becomes a rich source of insight into relationships between soldiering and masculinities, war-fighting and peace-keeping. Show More Show Less

How are men responding to feminism? In particular, at work dealing with the challenge to their power and privilege represented by positive action for sex equality? The 1980s saw many organizations, from major companies to left-wing local councils, take action to improve women's chances. The research on which this book is based evaluates the part of men in the equality process. The author demonstrates the social mechanisms through which women's aspirations for change are thwarted and draws lessons from experience for feminist activism in organizations in the 1990s.

Cynthia Cockburn's classic work began as a study on the human impact of technological change, but ended as an exploratiion in the making and remaking of men, showing how work and technology are used by men in maintaining their control over women. It continues to offer an unparalled insight into men and trade unionism from a feminist point of view.

The city of London is celebrated as one of the most ethnically diverse capitals in the world, and has been a magnet of migration since its origin. Looking to London steps into the maelstrom of current and recent wars and the resulting migration crisis, telling the stories of women refugees who have made it to London to seek safe haven among the city's Kurdish, Somali, Tamil, Sudanese and Syrian communities, under the watchful eye of the security services. Cynthia Cockburn brings her lively and lucid style to a world in which hatred is being countered by compassion, at a moment when the nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment expressed in Brexit is being challenged by a warm-hearted 'refugees welcome' movement bringing community activists into partnership with London borough councils for the reception and rehoming of victims of war. This book is essential reading for all who want to think more deeply about the meaning of asylum.

Even in places of deadly national enmity, some very ordinary people are routinely doing peace. In this highly original study, Cynthia Cockburn deepens our understanding of the processes sustaining conflict in Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine and Bosnia/Hercegovina by means of a close involvement with three remarkable women's projects that have chosen co-operation. How, she asks, do they fill the dangerous space between them with words instead of bullets? How do they make democracy out of difference? The book brings fresh insight to theories of the self in relation to collective identities and of gender in nationalist thought and practice. Observing in words and photographs how these women's alliances create a safe space in which to work together, we learn more about the dangers of essentialism and the problematic relationship between identity and democracy.

How are men responding to feminism? In particular, at work dealing with the challenge to their power and privilege represented by positive action for sex equality? The 1980s saw many organizations, from major companies to left-wing local councils, take action to improve women's chances. The research on which this book is based evaluates the part of men in the equality process. The author demonstrates the social mechanisms through which women's aspirations for change are thwarted and draws lessons from experience for feminist activism in organizations in the 1990s. '...an important and valuable contribution to the study of organisations, to an analysis of gendered social processes, and to those who actively remain committed to creating a better world for women.' Jalna Hanmer, Times Higher Education Supplement. '...an engrossing study of resistance to the implementation of equality policies in different kinds of organizations.'Elizabeth Meehan, Queen's University, Belfast '...the book has the triple virtues of increasing specialized knowledge, compelling the attention of readers generally interested in politics and society and being moving for all who are concerned about human dignit

This original study by the, the product of 80,000 miles of travel by the author over a two-year period, examines women's activism against wars as far apart as Sierra Leone, Colombia and India. It shows women on different sides of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Israel refusing enmity and co-operating for peace. It describes international networks of women opposing US and Western European militarism and the so-called 'war on terror'. Women are often motivated by adverse experiences in male-led anti-war movements, preferring to choose different methods of protest and remain in control of their own actions. But like the mainstream movements, women's groups differ - some are pacifist while others put justice before non-violence; some condemn nationalism as a cause of war while others see it as a legitimate source of identity. The very existence of feminist antimilitarism proposes a radical shift in our understanding of war, linking the violence of patriarchal power to that of class oppression and ethnic 'othering'.