Research Guides: POLS 242: Women in War and Peace (HC): Background

Background on Gender and Women's Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict
Brings together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to address a range of challenges that arise for women and men during armed conflict. Topics addressed include humanitarian intervention, countering violence and extremism, sexual violence, criminal accountability, autonomous weapons, peacekeeping, and refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) status.
Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics
Includes many essays relevant to the class including ones on civil society, participation, governance, and equality.

Background on Peace and War

Ashgate Research Companion to War: Origins and Prevention
See in particular Chapter 3 Gender and the Causes, Tactics and Consequences of War and Chapter 21 The Instrumentalization of Gender in War.
Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace
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Good beginning points are the articles "Women and War" by Lisa Leitz and "Women's Role in Peacemaking" by Anne Marie Miele. At the end of the articles there are links to many related entries in the encyclopedia for reading on more specific topics as well as selected books for further reading.

Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are a very useful resource when doing research. They address the issues involved in a particular question and the debates among scholars. They map out the intellectual terrain succinctly and give you the major landmarks in terms of key authors and significant titles for greater understanding.

Annual Reviews
Covers significant developments in the field of political science and related fields in the social sciences. Publishes only literature review articles. Examples of interest include:
"Conflict-Related Sexual Violence" (2021) in the Annual Review of Political Science
"Female Candidates and Legislators" (2015) In the Annual Review of Sociology
"Gender Quotas for Legislatures and Corporate Boards" (2017) In the Annual Review of Sociology
"How Do Electoral Gender Quotas Affect Policy?" (2021) in the Annual review of Political Science
"Women's Rights after War: On Gender Interventions and Enduring Hierarchies" (2021) in the Annual Review of Law and Social Science

Oxford Bibliographies Online: Political Science
Political Science Section. Provides annotated bibliographies on selected topics. Includes introductions, guides, textbooks, journals, reference works, and links to useful websites. See in particular:
Feminist Security Studies
Gender and Electoral Politics
Gender and Terrorism
Gender, Behavior, and Representation
Women and Peacemaking/Peacekeeping
The African Studies section of OBO offers more relevant essays including:
Women and Politics
Civil War in Sub-Saharan Africa

Dissertations & Theses
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is a collection of scholarly research in the Humanities and Social Sciences that consists of 2.7 million searchable citations to dissertations and theses from around the world, and 1.2 million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Coverage is from 1861 to the present day.

Regional Handbooks and Encyclopedias

Political Handbook of the World
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A collection of comprehensive country profiles containing detailed information on each nation's political history, government, leadership structure, elections, and political party system. Also included: profiles of intergovernmental organizations, development banks, and the agencies and specialized bodies of the United Nations.

Freedom in the World 2022
This is an annual survey of political rights and civil liberties for 195 countries and 15 territories done by the organization Freedom House.
Oxford Encyclopedia of African Politics
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In over 400 peer-reviewed entries, readers will find authoritative overviews of key methodologies and approaches, as well as all of the major topics in African politics. BMC students use the Haverford icon to connect. Log in with your BMC credentials. Haverford's ebook is available because you are currently taking this class at Haverford.
Routledge handbook of African politics
See in particular the chapter "Women in Politics."
Routledge Handbook of African Security
Overview essays address issues concerning security, conflict, regionalism, and external influences.
Governance in the Middle East and North Africa: a handbook
Note these two essays: "The Improvement of Women's Rights in the Arab World: The Importance of Governing Authorities" and "The Islamic Veil in Civil Societies."

Web Resources

Gender and women's resources
Research and data provided by the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Gender resources from Eldis
Eldis, a development policy group, presents resources related to gender and conflict: Conflict and Emergencies, Displacement and Refugees, and Key Gender Websites.
Nobel Women's initiative
The Nobel Women's Initiative was established in 2006 by Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire to advance women's rights around the world.
Women's Initiatives for Gender justice
This organization advocates for gender justice through the International Criminal Court and other political bodies. It works primarily on cases in Africa and the Middle East.