Gender and the Governance of Terrorism and Violent Extremism

This book brings together a variety of innovative perspectives on the inclusion of gender in the governance of (counter-)terrorism and violent extremism.

Several global governance initiatives launched in recent years have explicitly sought to integrate concern for gender equality and gendered harms into efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism (CT/CVE). As a result, commitments to gender-sensitivity and gender equality in international and regional CT/CVE initiatives, in national action plans and at the level of civil society programming, ´have become a common aspect of the multilevel governance of terrorism and violent extremism. In light of these developments, there is a need for more systematic analysis of how concerns about gender are being incorporated in the governance of (counter-)terrorism and violent extremism and how it has affected (gendered) practices and power relations in counterterrorism policy-making and implementation.

Ranging from the processes of global and regional integration of gender into the governance of terrorism, via the impact of the shift on government responses to the return of foreign fighters, to state and civil society-led CVE programming and academic discussions, the essays engage with the origins and dynamics behind recent shifts which bring gender to the forefront of the governance of terrorism. This book will be of great value to researchers and scholars interested in gender, governance and terrorism.

The chapters in this book were originally published in Critical Studies on Terrorism.

Ann-Kathrin Rothermel is PhD candidate at the University of Potsdam, research fellow with the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism (IRMS), and academic advisor to the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb). Her research focuses on gender in online radicalization processes and transnational counterterrorism governance.

Laura J. Shepherd is Professor of International Relations at the University of Sydney and a former Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2018-2022). Her primary research focuses on the United Nations Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security agenda, and attendant dynamics of gender, violence, and security governance.