From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence - Hardcover

Eager, Paige Whaley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754672255 ISBN 13: 9780754672258

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

Women have participated in political violence throughout history, yet the concept of women as active proponents and perpetrators of political violence and terrorism is not widely accepted. Viewed as being forced by partners, sexually abused or brainwashed, the possibility of political motives is not often considered. Paige Whaley Eager addresses this to establish whether the stereotypical view is misplaced. She utilizes a framework to analyze women engaged in political violence in different contexts in order to examine structural variables, ideological goals of the organization and personal factors which contribute to involvement. Case study rich, this informative book provides an indispensable guide to examining women's role in left/right wing engagement, ethno-nationalist/separatist violence, guerrilla movements and suicide bombers.

About this title

About the Author:

Paige Whaley Eager is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Hood College, Frederick, Maryland, USA.

Review:

'...provides a provocative examination of the lives and mindsets of women who conventional histories of terrorism have overlooked. It single-handedly dispels any myths that women have been less involved in planning, plotting and perpetrating violence throughout history. A massive contribution to the terrorism studies literature.' Jarret Brachman, United States Military Academy, USA 'Academicians, government officials and policy makers will find From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists an extensive and enlightening analysis. Grounded in theory and framed within history, Eager meets the challenge society continues to grapple with: women's role in violence. Eager demonstrates that within social movements and organizations, women have consciously and frequently challenged successfully their assumed roles in society at large.' Rosemarie Skaine, author of Women at War: Gender Issues of Americans in Combat, The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban and Female Suicide Bombers 'Eager (Hood College) casts a wide net in this broadly comparative analysis of left- and right-wing women who engage in political violence...This specialized book may be among the first to integrate all types of women "freedom fighters and terrorists", from Right to Left and north to south...Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research and professional collections.' Choice 'It is a major contribution to the terrorism studies readily available to military readers. The author has cited extensively from a wide range of works on the subject, thereby showing the depth of her research. The book is recomended for all formation and unit libraries.' USI Journal 'Employing sound reasoning and a clear methodology, Eager presents a broad range of well-researched case studies...the book is an insightful read that illustrates well the extent and nature of the roles women play in guerrilla, resistance and terrorist groups. It challenges views still widely held by policymakers, who underestimate the engagement of women in political violence.' Journal of Peace Research 'From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists is destined to be a classic work in the field of terrorism and of women in particular.' Political Science Quarterly '...a rich description of women's involvement - as fighters - in political violence...it is well researched and articulate, and is a text that will appeal to counter-terrorism scholars and practitioners alike.' Australian Defence Force Journal '...a broad-ranging, systematically organized selection of cases where women and political violence are found together, which is both valuable and useful for those interested in women and political violence.' Minerva Journal of Women and War 'Eager's work identifies a disturbing trend: that news media around the world interpret the same evidence differently depending on whether the perpetrators are male or female. Journalists constantly point to personal tragedies as the reasons that women become terrorists and suicide bombers, while the motives of male terrorists, who tell the same stories of privation and suffering, death of relatives, and personal affront, are described primarily as political...highly recommend[ed]...' Feminist Collections 'From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists is a welcome respite from the general mediocrity of books on women and terror. Paige Whaley provides and excellent accounting of various types of violent movements in which women are active in both support roles and as front line activists...the book makes an extremely important contribution to both fields of women's studies and terrorism studies in its systematic analysis, its application of theory, and excellent details in the case studies...highly recommended...' The Journal of Politics and Gender 'From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists is one of a number of recently published studies on women's participation in political violence and terrorism. Rather than presenting the findings of new field research, the book provides a collation and survey of widely dispersed existing literature, analysed through a welcome comparative perspective... insightful, methodical and accessible... there is much to recommend this book in terms of its comparative and feminist analysis...' Feminist Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0754672255
• ISBN 13: 9780754672258
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248