Feminist Political Theory

Das Buch verbindet zwei Schlüsselkonzepte aktueller politischer und feministischer Theorie - Intersektionalität und Gouvernementalität - mit der historischen Analyse der Problematisierung von Prostitution und ihren Regierungsweisen Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts und analysiert, welche Machtlogiken bei der Interpretation der Prostitution als Problem individueller moralischer Führung einerseits und als gesamtgesellschaftliches, politisches Problem andererseits wirkten.
Die Autorin zeigt empirisch auf, dass verschiedene gesellschaftliche Gruppen jeweils spezifisch moralisch regiert wurden und plädiert für ein politisches und prozessorientiertes Verständnis von Intersektionalität, so dass differenzierte Mechanismen der Machtausübung erfassbar werden.

Vienen del cielo", son seres celestiales, expresa la cosmogonía wichí sobre las mujeres de ese mundo. Su origen celeste, los comportamientos erráticos que se le atribuyen [y] su anatomía abierta confluyen en la concepción "potencialmente peligrosa" de la feminidad wichí. G. BARÚA y M. DASSO (1999: 252) RESUMEN: Este artículo se refiere al caso de un fallo de la Corte de Salta sobre un hombre wichí, acusado de haber violado a la hija de su concubina. Se denotará como colonialismo jurídico el tratamiento del caso por parte del Estado argentino y, en términos de colonialismo discursivo al tratamiento recibido por determinados espacios de poder. Se ensaya lo que la autora llama una "teoría de las voces" desde la conceptualización de Aníbal Quijano sobre la "colonialidad del poder" que incluye el tratamiento de la política de la subjetivación en curso, y se

Why do women in contemporary western societies experience contradiction between their autonomous and maternal selves? What are the origins of this contradiction and the associated ‘double shift’ that result in widespread calls to either ‘lean in’ or ‘opt out’? How are some mothers subverting these contradictions and finding meaningful ways of reconciling their autonomous and maternal selves?


In Modern Motherhood and Women’s Dual Identities, Petra Bueskens argues that western modernisation consigned women to the home and released them from it in historically unprecedented, yet interconnected, ways. Her ground-breaking formulation is that western women are free as ‘individuals’ and constrained as mothers, with the twist that it is the former that produces the latter.


Bueskens’ theoretical contribution consists of the identification and analysis of modern women’s duality drawing on political philosophy, feminist theory and sociology tracking the changing nature of discourses of women, freedom and motherhood across three centuries. While the current literature points to the pervasiveness of contradiction and double-shifts for mothers, very little attention has been paid to how (some) women are subverting contradiction and ‘rewriting the sexual contract’. Bridging this gap, Bueskens’ interviews ten ‘revolving mothers’ to reveal how periodic absence, exceeding the standard work-day, disrupts the default position assigned to mothers in the home, and in turn disturbs the gendered dynamics of household work.


A provocative and original work, Modern Motherhood and Women’s Dual Identities will appeal to graduate students and researchers interested in fields such as Women and Gender Studies, Sociology of Motherhood and Social and Political Theory.


Endorsements:


Petra Bueskens has been in the forefront of the new, and very welcome field of motherhood studies.  In Modern Motherhood and Women's Dual Identities: Rewriting the Sexual Contact [she analyses] the psychic, social, cultural and political challenges posed by the dual identities of mother and citizen, elegantly and capaciously ranges across 400 years of theory, up to the present, that address them, as well as providing psychologically-attuned interview documentation of how women feel and think, daily and throughout their maternal lives.
Nancy J Chodorow
Author, The Reproduction of Mothering, The Power of Feelings, Individualizing Gender and Sexuality, and other works Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley


This creative and theoretically rich book re-examines the social contradictions and penalties faced by women who want to be both caring mothers and autonomous public individuals.  Taking us beyond the logic of the "sexual contract," Bueskens introduces us to the "revolving mothers" who offer a glimpse of the social revolution required to undo the gendered separation of spheres.  A fascinating and compelling study.
Dr. Sharon Hays, author of the The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood



In this lucid, timely and important new book, Petra Bueskens takes up the formidable task of investigating the 'new sexual contract' in late modernity that leaves women strung out between the promise of autonomy in the public sphere, and the demands of motherhood that isolate and intensify mothering work in the home, both freeing and constraining women at once. Bueskens brings into view this impossible contradictory duality by producing both a new social theory of dualism, and the empirical evidence to show that it is possible to force changes in the sexual contract at the level of individual family organization. Through tracking a small group of women who both choose to mother and also spend protracted periods of time away from the family, she shows how these women produce radical shifts in the gendered dynamics of the household. Her bold and vital claim is that we can rewrite the sexual contract only if we understand the historical and contemporary double-bind that produces women's liberty as it undermines it, making motherhood still the unfinished business of feminism.
Dr. Lisa Baraitser, Reader in Psychosocial Studies, Birckbeck University, author of Maternal Encounters


Modern Mothers' Dual Identities: Rewriting the Sexual Contract cogently and compellingly elucidates a central debate in motherhood studies and a persistent dilemma in most mothers' lives; namely the contradiction between women's maternal and individualized selves.  Through her lucid theoretical ruminations on the 'new sexual contract' in late modernity and by way of an innovative empirical study on 'revolving mothers', Bueskens delivers the needed blueprints to actualize the potential of what she incisively terms 'the individualized mother'.
Dr. Andrea O'Reilly, Professor of Women's Studies, York University, Toronto, Founder and Director of the Motherhood Initiative and author of Matricentric Feminism.



In this engaging and timely book, Petra Bueskens tackles a central challenge of modern life - how to reconcile the contradictory roles of women as citizens, individual workers and mothers. She traces the history through the theoretical views of motherhood, integrating the multiple strands in a sophisticated and fascinating synthesis. She highlights periodic maternal absence as a bridge between individualism and constraint, revealing both the ambiguities and a potential way to progress women's liberation. The book is an absorbing read that makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of contemporary motherhood.
Dr. Lyn Craig, Professor of Sociology/ARC Future Fellow, The University of Melbourne, author of Contemporary Motherhood.

The article attempts a comprehensive review of the human security concept in order to question its utility for both research and policy-making. It notes the term’s interdisciplinary and extensively normative content that have facilitated its evolution into a successful security discourse. On the other hand, human security’s wide appeal has as a side-effect an extended conceptual polysemy inhibiting the cumulation of knowledge and the development of a relevant theory. Absence of conceptual clarity has also complicated its policy implementation. The article attempts to break the deadlock and move the debate forward by using the work of John Gerring and Paul A. Barresi on concept formation as an organizing device.

This paper considers perspectives on marriage in the Queer and feminist community reviewing key contemporary thinkers on the subject and using direct interviews and material from radical Queer activists and academics in the field.  It examines problems inherent in the fight for gay marriage and examines the ways gay marriage intersects with issues of race and class. I conducted dozens of interviews over the course of the research involved in this project.  Many of them  were broadcast in a documentary entitled, “Beyond Gay Marriage, broadcast on KPFA in 2010 and podcast by Race, Poverty & the Environment http://reimaginerpe.org/rpe/radio/dettmer. Quotations from these interviews are interwoven in the text without specific footnote. Unattributed direct quotations are excerpted from the transcript of Lisa Dettmer, Beyond Gay Marriage audio documentary, KPFA/ RP&E (2010).

In this article, we explore the wraparound approach of service delivery as a model for transnational social work. The wraparound model, used primarily within community-based children's mental health services and child protection initiatives, has been effective when planning services for clients and their families with complicated needs, whose care has to be provided within a multiple provider context. Most social work is delivered nationally or internationally rather than transnationally. In the article we outline how the model could be structured to meet the particular needs of transmigrants, including the involvement of NGOs and INGOs, and identify key obstacles and limitations.

Proponiamo un estratto dal libro L'ascesa del femminismo neoliberista di Catherine Rottenberg appena uscito per ombre corte, con la traduzione di Federica Martellino e una prefazione di Brunella Casalini. In questo saggio l'autrice sostiene che il femminismo neoliberista legittima lo sfruttamento della stragrande maggioranza delle donne mentre disarticola qualsiasi tipo di critica strutturale. Non sorprende, quindi, che questo nuovo discorso femminista converga con le forze conservatrici che, in nome della parità di genere e dei diritti delle donne, promuovono programmi razzisti e anti-immigrazione o giustificano gli interventi nei paesi a maggioranza musulmana. Rottenberg conclude quindi sollevando domande urgenti su come riorientare e rivendicare con successo il femminismo come movimento per la giustizia sociale. * * * * Secondo molti progressisti americani, la campagna presidenziale di Hillary Clinton del 2016 e il forte sostegno che ha ricevuto dalle organizzazioni femministe, avrebbero segnato uno dei momenti clou della rinascita di un'agenda femminista negli Stati Uniti. Nei giorni precedenti alle elezioni vi era un'aspettativa sempre più intensa e quasi palpabile, tra un vastissimo numero di persone, circa la possibilità di inaugurare una nuova era in cui, per la prima volta nella storia degli Stati Uniti, a capo della nazione più potente del mondo, ci sarebbe stata una donna. Di conseguenza, al risveglio dell'inaspettata-e per molti scioccante-disfatta di Clinton, si è rivelato molto più difficile valutare la portata del fatto che una donna si stesse candidando alla presidenza sostenuta da un partito a favore delle donne e identificato come "femminista". Secondo numerosi opinionisti e critici, la vittoria di Donald Trump non è che una rabbiosa reazione proprio nei riguardi del femminismo e dei risultati da esso effettivamente conseguiti. La rapidità con la quale il presidente Trump ha tentato di

I bambini e adolescenti stranieri che entrano e soggiornano nel nostro Paese da soli, senza essere accompagnati dai propri gentili, hanno attirato negli anni recenti l´interesse di istituzioni, amministrazioni locali, strutture della società civile. Esii rimangono tuttavia dei migranti minori. Non solo nell´ovvio senso che si tratta di minorenni che emigrano, ma soprattutto nel senso che essi sono stati oggetto fino ad oggi di un´attenzione insufficiente, intermittente, frettolosa da parte delle istituzioni. Nelle misure previste in materia si rispecchia una doppia difficoltà: quella di operare nei confronti di cittadini stranieri e quella di operare con adolescenti, categoria sociale sfuggente e problematica.
Il volume documenta gli esiti di un´indagine svolta tra gli operatori del Veneto promossa dal Pubblico Tutore dei minori del veneto. A conclusione dell´analisi sono formulate alcune raccomandazioni per una migliore promozione e tutela dei diritti.

Michel Foucault identified sexuality as one of the defining biopolitical technologies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As Jemima Repo argues in this book, "gender" has come to be the major sexual signifier of the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first century. In fact, in this historical excavation of the biopolitical significance of the term, she argues that it could not have emerged at any other time. Repo shows that gender is not originally a feminist term, but emerged from the study of intersex and transsexual persons in the fields of sexology and psychology in the1950s and 1960s. Prior to the 1950s gender was used to refer to various types of any number of phenomena - sometimes sex, but not necessarily. Its only regular usage was in linguistics, where it was used to classify nouns as masculine, feminine, or neuter. In the mid-twentieth century, gender shifted from being a nominator of types to designating the sexual order of things. As with sexuality in the Victorian period, over the last sixty years, the notion of gender has become an entire field of knowledge. Feminists famously took up the term in the 1970s to challenge biological determinism, and in government, "women" have been replaced by "gender" in policy-making processes that aim to advance equality between women and men. Gender has also become a key variable in social scientific surveys of different socio-political phenomena like voting, representation, employment, salaries, and parental leave decisions. The Biopolitcs of Gender analyzes the strategies and tactics of power involved in the use of "gender" in sexology and psychology, and subsequently its reversal and counter-deployment by feminists in the 1970s and 1980s. It critiques the emergence of gender in demographic science and the implications of this genealogy for feminist theory and politics today. Drawing on an a wide variety of historical and contemporary sources, the book makes a major theoretical argument about gender as a historically specific apparatus of biopower and calls into question the emancipatory potential of the category in feminist theory and politics.

This pdf contains the Table of Contents and Introduction to Black Women's Intellectual Traditions: Speaking Their Minds (Burlington: University of Vermont, 2007), co-edited by Kristin Waters and Carol B. Conaway.  Also included from the book: "Some Core Themes in Nineteenth-Century Black Feminism," by Kristin Waters.  The volume, which contains 19 essays on authors such as Maria W. Stewart, Sojourner Truth, Frances E. W. Harper, Pauline Hopkins, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida B. Wells, was a recipient of the 2007 Letitia Woods Brown Award from the Association of Black Women Historians,

Rape and other forms of sexual violence have always been a consistent feature of war. Yet it is only fairly recently that researchers have identified rape as a deliberate tool of war-making rather than simply an inevitable side effect of armed conflict. Much of the emerging literature has suggested that the underlying causes of rape stem from a single motivation—whether individual, symbolic, or strategic—leading to disagreement in the field about how we can understand and respond to the causes and consequences of sexual violence in war.
In Rape Loot Pillage, Sara Meger argues that sexual violence is a form of gender-based political violence (perpetrated against both men and women) and a manifestation of unequal gender relations that are exacerbated by the social, political, and economic conditions of war. She looks at trends in the form and function of sexual violence in recent and ongoing conflicts to contend that, in different contexts, sexual violence takes different forms and is used in pursuit of different objectives. For this reason, no single framework for addressing conflict-related sexual violence will be sufficient. Taking a political economy perspective, Meger maintains that these variations can be explained by broader struggles over territory, assets, and other productive resources of that motivate contemporary armed conflicts. Sexual violence is a reflection of global political economic struggles, and can’t be addressed only at the local level—it must be addressed through regional and international policy. She concludes by providing some initial ideas about how this can be done via the UN and national governments.

"Although much literature on human trafficking focuses on sex trafficking, a great deal of human trafficking results from migrant workers, compelled - by economic deprivation in their home countries - to seek better life opportunities abroad, especially in agriculture, construction and domestic work. Such labour migration is sometimes legal and well managed, but sometimes not so – with migrant workers frequently threatened or coerced into entering debt bondage arrangements and ending up working in forced labour situations producing goods for illicit markets. This book fills a substantial gap in the existing literature given that labour trafficking is a much more subtle form of exploitation than sex trafficking. It discusses how far large multinational corporations are involved, whether intentionally or unintentionally, in human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation. They explore how far corporations are driven to seek cheap labour by the need to remain commercially competitive and examine how the problem often lies with corporations’ subcontractors, who are not as well controlled as they might be. The essays in the volume also outline and assess measures being taken by governments and international agencies to eradicate the problem.

Table of contents
Introduction - Antonela Arhin and Ato Quayson
Foreword: Corporate Liability for Violations of International Human Rights Law - Mohamed Y. Mattar
1. Trafficking for Labour Exploitation: Getting the Responses Right - Roger Plant
2. The Commodification of Human Smuggling and Trafficking - Louise Shelley
3. Child Labour Migrants or Victims of Labour Trafficking: A Segmental Approach - Antonela Arhin
4. Displacing Childhood: Labour Exploitation and Child Trafficking in Sport - Darragh McGee
5. Labor Migration, Human Trafficking and Multinational Corporations within the ECOWAS Region: challenges and opportunities - Ndioro Ndiaye
6. Adults or Children? The Case of Trafficking of Children for Purposes of Exploitative Labour in the Fishing Industry in Ghana - Daniel Kweku Sam
7. Doing Canada's Dirty Work: A Critical Analysis of Law and Policy to Address Labour Exploitation Trafficking - Bethany Hastie
8. Minimum Wage --An Ally in the Fight Against Human Trafficking for Labour Exploitation? - Anne Pawletta and Philipp Schwertmann
9. Responding to Labour Trafficking: Suggestions from Experiences of Local Service Providers - Amy Stevens, Romesh Hettiarachchi and Sung Hyun Yun
10. The Programmatic Approach to combating Trafficking in Human Beings - Ruud Hilgers""

The feminist “we,” which during the first and second waves of feminist political organizing had a natural basis in “women,” became a theoretical and political problem in the late 1970s. In this study, I examine efforts to replace the earlier idea of “women” as the collective subject of feminism with more nuanced visions of the feminist “we.” I refer to these efforts, which continue right down to the present, as the “discussion on feminist political togetherness.”

While the criticism of feminist politics based on “women’s identity” has become a well-documented part of the recent history of feminist thought, the efforts to provide alternative conceptualizations of the feminist “we” remain less known. The present study gives visibility to the alternatives proposed by theorists such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Judith Butler, Adriana Cavarero, Jodi Dean, bell hooks, Maria Lugones, Chandra Mohanty, and Linda Zerilli, and suggests they can contribute to other ongoing discussions in the field of political theory about political bonds in diverse and unequal societies.

I examine the discussion of feminist political togetherness from three perspectives. First, I focus on the exact concepts used in the debate. Thus far, feminist theorists have not created new concepts for theorizing the feminist “we”; they have given new meanings to established terms, such as identity, coalition, and solidarity. Second, I turn my attention to the theoretical resources used and focus on visions of collective feminist politics based on Hannah Arendt’s concepts. Since the 1990s, Arendt’s thought has been the main theoretical resource in the discussion of feminist political togetherness and Arendtian visions of the feminist “we” form a distinct strand in this debate. Third, I discuss five themes that have persisted in this discussion for decades. Their persistence reveals that even though feminist theorists use different vocabularies and theoretical resources to address the problem of the feminist “we,” the solutions they provide are similar. Most draw attention to sustained, but open political bonds across difference and privilege, bonds that have to be actively created and maintained and that enable political action in the context of diversity and inequality.

My study suggests that the visions of the feminist “we” from the late 1970s down to the present offer an explicitly feminist understanding of political commonality, which takes into account the diversity of groups, intersecting oppressions, fragmentation of individual subjectivity, and differences in power and privilege. This understanding, which I call “feminist political togetherness,” differs from other recent visions of political community in the field of political theorizing.

Eigentum ist nicht, wie es die bürgerliche Ideologie will, Bedingung für den Gebrauch. Im Gegenteil produziert es unweigerlich einen spezifischen Missbrauch: sowohl der Dinge als auch der Menschen.
Inhaltsverzeichnis und Einleitung von "Der Missbrauch des Eigentums", August Verlag 2016

En este artículo se analiza lo que fue la IV Conferencia de NN.UU. sobre las mujeres que se llevó a cabo en Beijing en septiembre de 1995, y de la que ahora se cumplen 25 años. Partiendo de las diversas posiciones políticas que quedaron de manifiesto, se exponen cuáles fueron los principales conflictos y temas de debate, desde el conflicto en torno al tema del "género" al surgimiento del término "ideología de género", desde el debate sobre "derechos sexuales y reproductivos" hasta el debate sobre el término "familias". Mi participación directa en aquella conferencia me permitió conocer los entresijos de lo que fue una batalla fundamental en el avance del feminismo en el mundo.

In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat sich das Feld der Geschlechterforschung zu einem äußerst produktiven, eigenständigen und ausdifferenzierten Wissensgebiet entwickelt, das im deutschsprachigen Raum durch ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Disziplinbildungsprozessen, disziplinübergreifenden Perspektiven und fachspezifischen
Zugängen gekennzeichnet ist.
Durch dieses Spannungsfeld ist auch das seit kurzem erschienene zweibändige Handbuch „Interdisziplinäre Geschlechterforschung“, herausgegeben von Beate Kortendiek, Birgit Riegraf und Katja Sabisch, gekennzeichnet, indem es sich dieser verschiedenen Herangehensweisen bedient und sehr heterogene Einblicke in die Erkenntnisse des Wissensfeldes liefert.

Author: Alanoud Alsharekh. ISBN 9781872843933, published by Saffron London, 2006. Commissioning editor and Editor, Saffron Asian Art and Society Series [ISSN 1740-3103]. General editors: Shirley Rizvi and Sajid Rizvi. The book deals with the concept of feminism as a cross-cultural literary  device that uncovers the social development of women's emancipatory progress  through the work of both English and Arab female novelists. The main premise of this study relies on many of the theories presented by the 1970s
feminist critical movement, especially that of Elaine Showalter's tripartite structure. It also suggests a new tripartite structure for the evolution of  feminist consciousness in works of fiction involving the an inversion of scales in "softness" and "anger" explored through the work of such authors as Charlotte Brontë, Sarah Grand, Virginia Woolf, Layla al Othman, Nawal al Saadawi and Hanan al Shaykh. Follow links for further information.

Cosa significa protestare per le strade, perché occupare uno spazio nella città? Veniamo da un recente risveglio, da anni che hanno riportato la politica nelle piazze e nelle strade. In tutto il mondo uomini e donne sono scesi in piazza manifestando un'urgenza condivisa di resistenza, di riappropriazione degli spazi e della capacità di agire e fare politica a partire dalle vite. Come comprendere la specificità di queste esperienze? Perché chiamarle rivolte urbane e non rivoluzioni? Quali sono gli strumenti per leggere una rivolta senza astrarre, generalizzare, neutralizzare? Stare per le strade è la pratica di 'stasis' che crea lo spazio per la rivolta e contemporaneamente dispone un modo affettivo di vivere lo spazio urbano. Durante una protesta, la corporeità è esposta in tutta la sua intensità appassionata e vulnerabile. Il corpo al centro permette di cogliere la relazione che questi eventi intessono con gli spazi urbani, il nuovo senso della politica che propongono e i rapporti tra uomini e donne nel momento della protesta.

Il testo vuole incarnare una possibile mediazione tra universi culturali lontani ed essere una lettura propedeutica per chi intenda addentrarsi nella tematica, lasciando che la fede cristiana s’interroghi liberamente sul ‘gender’. Un approccio sereno e critico sia alla cultura laica di genere – della quale si esaminano i nodi principali – sia a quella cattolica, con l’intento di superare le reciproche diffidenze e cercare insieme una verità umanizzante per tutti. L’obiettivo è gettare delle basi condivisibili su cui costruire una sintesi teologica più ampia. Un testo che, nell’esaminare i nodi teoretici, volge lo sguardo alla recente campagna ‘anti-gender’, cercando di fornire le coordinate utili a svelenire il clima e muoversi al suo interno con padronanza di lessico e concettualità. In questo senso, l’opera vuole essere uno strumento per formatori, pastori e attivisti che vogliano introdursi nella complessità senza scorciatoie, per cogliere la ricchezza del ‘pensiero di genere’: nell’orizzonte della promozione di un benessere comunitario e individuale.

The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in Brima, Kamara and Kanu recognized that forced marriages may amount to crimes against humanity, falling under the sub-heading of ‘other inhumane acts’. This decision is to
be welcomed because the practice of forced marriage is not adequately described by existing categories of sexual crimes. As forced conjugality results in particular psychological and moral suffering for the victims, it is argued that this heinous
practice may be more appropriately pursued as a separate crime, under a definition that describes the entirety and complexity of the criminal conduct. The SCSL decision
may also be important for its impact on the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The widespread practice of forced marriage presently features in all the situations being investigated by the ICC and the inclusion in the ICC
Statute of the offence of forced marriage as a separate crime against humanity could be discussed during the Review Conference in 2009.

One of the more striking features of the Black Lives Matter movement against racialized police brutality has been the focus on violence inflicted on " black bodies. " On one hand, the language of " black bodies, " as opposed to simply " black people " or " black personhood, " makes the issue of racial violence more visceral and immediate to white audiences otherwise indisposed to perceive black pain as a moral problem. On the other hand, it represents a theoretical challenge to dominant understandings of pain, suffering, and individuality based on liberal subjectivity. Exemplifying both these aspects, Ta-Nehisi Coates's recent work, Between the World and Me, provides a deep philosophical reflection on the moral and political problem of " black disembodiment. " This article tracks the theme of disembodiment in Coates's book by foregrounding the role that feminist theories of embodiment play in his exploration of the contemporary black condition in America.

In 2006 the Prosecutor released two statements addressing
communications received by his Office concerning allegations of crimes committed in Venezuela and Iraq. The February 2006 communication of the Prosecutor discusses allegations received by the Office of the Prosecutor concerning genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Iraq. This Article will address the Prosecutor's decision concerning these alleged war crimes; in particular, allegations concerning wilful killing or inhuman treatment of civilians. The crimes alleged include  mistreatment of prisoners, and multiple cases of unlawful
executions. The Prosecutor decided not to initiate an investigation into the alleged war crimes. Although he ultimately had reason to decide this way under the principle of complementarity, this Article will contend that the reasoning used in the decision was flawed, and many issues that should have been considered were not. Issues not addressed include the interests of victims, the interests of justice, and a broad consideration of the gravity of the alleged offences. The absence of such considerations from the communication has produced a dubious precedent in decisions concerning war crimes admissibility and the interests of victims in proceedings before the Court. Such elements should not be by-passed in future considerations by the Prosecutor of whether to initiate an
investigation.

The last twenty years have seen an explosion of publishing by. about and for women, This series is designed to make a particular contribution to this continuing process by commissioning and publishing books which consolidate and advance feminist research and debate in key areas in a form suitable for students. academics and researchers but also accessible to a broader general readership. As far as possible books adopt an international perspective incorporating comparative material from a range of countries where this is illuminating. Above all they are interdisciplinary. aiming to put women's studies and feminist discussion firmly on the agenda in subject-areas as disparate as law, physical education. art and social policy.

The powerful image of Margaret Thatcher behind the wheel of a tank, a modern day Britannia with her headscarf trailing in the breeze, in many ways epitomises the themes of this book. Drawing on a wide range of material - speeches, press photos, campaign posters, radio interviews, magazine articles, political biographies - this well-documented and scholarly analysis shows the interplay of gender, fantasy and conflict in the construction of the Thatcher persona, and the complex ways in which her politics resonated with the fears and desires of the British electorate. Nunn opens up a space for thinking in new ways about the relationship between the categories of woman and nation, of political power and violence. She explores the role of particular forms of femininity and masculinity in securing imaginary constructions of political leadership and national identity, in which fantasies of mastery and invasion come to the fore. The book addresses Thatcher's performance of grand adversarial leadership: the image of Thatcher at war, as constantly embattled, recurs again and again; she is presented as a woman encountering opposition, danger and hostility, at all levels - personal, party, doctrinal, civil, national and international level. And in all these battles, gender is crucial to Thatcher's persona: whether she appears as the doughty "Tory woman", responding punitively to immorality, crime and disorder; as the commonsense housewife bringing order to the nation's house-keeping; as the warrior queen fighting the enemy without and within; or as the Iron Lady - the "best man" for the job. Nunn argues that our unconscious desires and fantasies play an important part in the symbolic identifications that are crucial in modern politics. Thatcher's positioning in relation to images of social chaos and violent unrest thus rehearsed a range of aggressive and submissive fantasy scenarios in which she or her loyal subjects faced a host of malefactors, oppressive state structures, or potential emasculating dependencies. Nunn also explores the idea of Thatcher as a "cultural super-ego", as a way of understanding how Thatcher's imaginary power was consolidated through an ambivalent laying bare of illegitimate violence, and a counter-investment in the violence of the state and the law. She suggests that in examining Thatcher's extreme persona one can start to consider the violence and aggression that underpin the modern British nation.

Cover image: A seated woman giving birth aided by a midwife and two other attendants with a display of the equipment typical of a midwife of the times. The woman, sitting on a birth-stool, is being delivered by a midwife whose obstetrical instruments are in a bag fastened to her girdle and hanging behind her. A tub of water stands on the floor in readiness for the newborn while scissors for dividing the umbilical cord and string for tying it sit on a table nearby. In the background two men are shown observing the sky through a window, represented with a new moon and stars, ready to cast the horoscope of the new arrival. Source: a woodcut from Jacob Rueff (1500-1588), De conceptu et generatione hominis, first published in 1554 in both Latin and German.

Moira Gatens is widely celebrated as a ground-breaking feminist theorist. More generally, she is a distinguished political philosopher, whose work on the imagination as a productive source of reasoned action and liberation—of active and ethical sociability—enjoys a fecund global influence. Drawing upon key aspects of her feminist and political philosophy, the purpose of this article is to outline, in general terms, the significance of the contribution Gatens additionally and correspondingly makes to Spinoza studies.