Conflicted Democracies And Gendered Violence

Engaging recent histories of protracted conflict and social upheaval within "conflicted democracies" in the postcolony, this monograph draws attention to events and aspects of gendered and sexualized social suffering that such dissension causes. Numerous emergent and durable political democracies are habitually afflicted by long-drawn-out political and foundational violence. In the transition from feudal-imperial-colonial formations, the anatomy of conflicted political democracies is surfeited with myriad disputes, nationalist assertions, and unresolved politics. These situations erupt as recurrent law and order issues, or develop into episodic confrontations or full-blown conflicts, and as decolonial movements for autonomy and self-determination. This text locates postcolonial India, the world's most populous political democracy, as an exemplar. The text narrates issues of extraordinary gendered and sexualized violence within varying political situations in India. Detailing events and impacts in and between sites of protracted conflict (in the northwestern state of Punjab and the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir) and social upheaval (in the western state of Gujarat and the eastern state of Odisha), the monograph explicates the conflicted relations of a troubled political democracy to violence, the "Other," and justice. Theoretical precepts-conflicted democracy, gendered and sexualized violence, and transitional and transformative justice, are examined in section I, and particularized in sections II-III. Sections II-III focus on two sites of protracted conflict and two areas of social upheaval from India. Section II elaborates on issues in India, whereas section III, part one identifies case examples from different regions and contexts across India that are rarely discussed in the same analysis to illustrate official responses to events of gendered and sexualized violence. Section III, part two threads together victim-survivor memory narratives from two sites that are seldom considered together. In closing, the monograph expands on the notion of immediate, structural, and transformative justice and espouses the right to heal. In doing so, section III, part three explores possibilities for accountability and historical dialogue through defining provisions for transformative justice to gendered violence within a conflicted democracy. It raises prefatory questions regarding the role of the state, civil society, and multisector institutions, and the most elemental of constituents: victim-survivors.

The Sexual Violence and Impunity in South Asia research project (coordinated by Zubaan and supported by the International Development Research Centre) brings together, for the first time in the region, a vast body of research on this important - yet silenced - subject. Six country volumes (one each on Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and two on India, as well as two standalone volumes) comprising over fifty research papers and two book-length studies, detail the histories of sexual violence and look at the systemic, institutional, societal, individual and community structures that work together to perpetuate impunity for perpetrators. The essays in this volume focus on Nepal, which though not directly colonized, has not remained immune from the influence of colonialism in its neighbourhood. In addition to home-grown feudal patriarchal structures, the writers in this volume clearly demonstrate that it is the larger colonial and post-colonial context of the subcontinent that has enabled the structuring of inequalities and power relations in ways that today allow for widespread sexual violence and impunity in the country - through legal systems, medical regimes and social institutions. The period after the 1990 democratic movement, the subsequent political transformation in the aftermath of the Maoist insurgency and the writing of the new constitution, has seen an increase in public discussion about sexual violence. The State has brought in a slew of legislation and action plans to address this problem. And yet, impunity for perpetrators remains intact and justice elusive. What are the structures that enable such impunity? What can be done to radically transform these? How must States understand the search for justice for victims and survivors of sexual violence? The essays in this volume attempt to trace a history of sexual violence in Nepal, look at the responses of women's groups and society at large, and suggest how this serious and wide-ranging problem may be addressed.

Conflicted Democracies and Gendered Violence elucidates the centrality of political and foundational violence in the governance of conflicted democracies in the postcolony, calling attention to the urgent need for transformation. Spectacular and quotidian gendered and sexualized violence by states and collectives holds in place fraught and unjust histories and relations between elites and subalterns, majoritarian subjects and non-dominant "Others." At the intersections of nationalist and decolonial confrontations, such violence regularizes states of emergency and exception. Through oral history, archival, and legal research undertaken over three years, this interdisciplinary work underscores the need for transitional and transformative justice mechanisms in conflicted democracies to address protracted conflict (focusing on their internal dimensions) and social upheaval. India serves as a case in point, exemplified by ongoing and recent conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and the Punjab and episodic social upheavals in Gujarat (in 2002) and Odisha (in 2008). Victim-survivor narratives of counter-memory, historical records, and legal analyses of formative cases detail the depth and texture of social suffering and illustrate the inadequacy and inhumanity of official responses to events of extraordinary violence. Expanding on methods in justice and accountability and espousing the right to heal, scholars and practitioners raise critical questions regarding the state, civil society, and diverse institutions, and the most elemental of constituents: victim-survivors. Contributors: Angana P. Chatterji, Mallika Kaur, Roxanna Altholz, Paola Bacchetta, Rajvinder Singh Bains, Mihir Desai, Laurel E. Fletcher, Parvez Imroz, Jeremy J. Sarkin, and Pwi Wu.

Highlighting gendered violence across layers of social and political organization, from the military to the sexual, this book explores the connections between international security, intra-state conflict and 'domestic' violence. International in scope, it makes the links between the local and the global and between the public and the private, in its discussion of gendered violence. Claiming that it is not enough to simply 'add' women to international relations theory, the contributors to this book brilliantly demonstrate how much more fruitful an in-depth analysis of the different layers of gendered violence can be. This book will be necessary reading for students and academics of women's studies, international relations and political theory.

This book draws together established and emerging scholars from sociology, law, history, political science and education to examine the global and local issues in the pursuit of gender justice in post-conflict settings. This examination is especially important given the disappointing progress made to date in spite of concerted efforts over the last two decades. With contributions from both academics and practitioners working at national and international levels, this work integrates theory and practice, examining both global problems and highly contextual case studies including Kenya, Somalia, Peru, Afghanistan and DRC. The contributors aim to provide a comprehensive and compelling argument for the need to fundamentally rethink global approaches to gender justice.

Gender, Ethnicity, and Violence in Kenya's Transitions to Democracy examines gendered violence in the context of multiparty politics in Kenya, placing it in the historical milieu of colonial rule and its legacies of the ethnicization of both state and society.

How can we understand and contest the global wave of violence against women? In this book, Alison Brysk shows that gender violence across countries tends to change as countries develop and liberalize, but not in the ways that we might predict. She shows how liberalizing authoritarian countries and transitional democracies may experience more shifting patterns and greater levels of violence than less developed and democratic countries, due to changes and uncertainties in economic and political structures. Accordingly, Brysk analyzes the experience of semi-liberal, developing countries at the frontiers of globalization--Brazil, India, South Africa, Mexico, the Philippines, and Turkey--to map out patterns of gender violence and what can be done to change those patterns. As the book shows, gender violence is not static, nor can it be attributed to culture or individual pathology--rather it varies across a continuum that tracks economic, political, and social change. While a combination of international action, law, public policy, civil society mobilization, and changes in social values work to decrease gender violence, Brysk assesses the potential, limits, and balance of these measures. Brysk shows that a human rights approach is necessary but not sufficient to address gender violence, and that insights from feminist and development approaches are essential.

Highlighting gendered violence across layers of social and political organization, from the military to the sexual, this book explores the connections between international security, intra-state conflict and 'domestic' violence. International in scope, it makes the links between the local and the global and between the public and the private, in its discussion of gendered violence. Claiming that it is not enough to simply 'add' women to international relations theory, the contributors to this book brilliantly demonstrate how much more fruitful an in-depth analysis of the different layers of gendered violence can be. This book will be necessary reading for students and academics of women's studies, international relations and political theory.