in first days/weeks of US/NATO bombing, this list had a lot of
traffic about nationalism, rights to self-determination, Kosovar
Albanians, etc...a topic missing - with a few exceptions - from
discussions about the war is how nationalism is always gendered.
..I'm thinking, for example, of works by Cynthia Enloe and Anne
McClintock..
the nation-state was developed by men, largely for men...state-making
has been bound up with war-making which has been monopolized by men...
revolutionary armies (including Yugoslavian Partisan movement during
WW2) provided exceptions, although evidence points to regression
towards stereotyped gender roles following victory in a number of
instances...
state-making has also been bound up with wealth-making...capitalism,
in part, resulted from opportunities for power and profit generated
by gender relations (and continues to do so, obviously)...
international politics has dealt - and continues to deal - mainly
with state-making and wealth-making...women continue to be mostly
invisible there leaving it a bastion of male power and privilege
(not withstanding a few Thatchers & Albrights in decision-making
circles)...
state-makers have used nationhood (which Marx called an 'illusory
community') to foster a solidarist 'us' and alien 'them'...thus,
male domination of international politics ('high' politics as IR
types are wont to say, in contrast to so-called 'low' politics
which includes 'unimportant' issues such as health) exists as
if in some gender-neutral realm...Michael Hoover
