Foreign Security Policy Gender and US Military Identity Gender and Politics

Differentiation from the Self has been a unifying feature of war stories since they were first told highlighting that war stories are about the production of identity. Based on analysis of military documents, this book aims to unravel some of the gendered ideologies that underpin the link between state identity and foreign security policy. The concept of 'othering' which can be understood as the process of differentiation from the Self has been a basic tenet of the war story since war stories were first told. This practise of deliberate differentiation is indicative of the fact that war stories are essentially about the production of identity. The aim of this book, therefore, is to unravel some of the gendered ideologies that underpin the link between state identity and foreign security policy by looking at a certain case, state and foreign security policy. In particular this volume explores the identity of the United States through military documents on perception management in conflict from 1991-2007 shedding light on the 'othering' and the 'selfing' that occurs in these particular war stories. In doing so it lays bare the gendered ideologies that underpins US identity between these years as well as exploring potential spaces for alternatives. Thus, this book ventures a detailed and unique look at a particular aspect of the gendered reproduction of the state Review: What do military doctrines and propaganda leaflets have to do with national identity and gender? Everything, argues Elgin Brunner in this wide-ranging and innovative book. Theoretically sophisticated, methodologically thorough, and refreshingly not loath to inject an updated notion of ideology into her post-structuralist approach, the book adds a new spin to feminist contentions that link foreign policy to gendered constructions of state identity. A multiple reading of texts and silenced intertexts reveal an 'information age' military with neoliberal traits, Orientalist productions of hypermasculine enemies and feeble civilian others, and stealth performances of US identity. A dizzying tour through the discursive corridors of the US military that shakes our understanding of what foreign policy and military strategy are all about! Elisabeth Prugl, Deputy Director, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland This timely book engages with the hereto insufficiently researched subject area of US military perception management doctrine and practice in an analytically deep and critically sophisticated manner. By unearthing war schemes of power through gendered constructions of identity and by showing the implications of these constructions for the state, its society, and its foreign policy from a wealth of documents, the book positions itself as a highly relevant and thought-provoking volume in the poststructuralist research tradition. Myriam Dunn Cavelty, lecturer in security studies and senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland "The concept of 'othering' which can be understood as the process of differentiation from the Self has been a basic tenet of the war story since war stories were first told. This practise of deliberate differentiation is indicative of the fact that war stories are essentially about the production of identity. The aim of this book, therefore, is to unravel some of the gendered ideologies that underpin the link between state identity and foreign security policy by looking at a certain case, state and foreign security policy. In particular this volume explores the identity of the United States through military documents on perception management in conflict from 1991-2007 shedding light on the 'othering' and the 'selfing' that occurs in these particular war stories. In doing so it lays bare the gendered ideologies that underpins US identity between these years as well as exploring potential spaces for alternatives. Thus, this book ventures a detailed and unique look at a particular aspect of the gendered reproduction of the state"-- Provided by publisher "The concept of 'othering' which can be understood as the process of differentiation from the Self has been a basic tenet of the war story since war stories were first told. This practise of deliberate differentiation is indicative of the fact that war stories are essentially about the production of identity. The aim of this book, therefore, is to unravel some of the gendered ideologies that underpin the link between state identity and foreign security policy by looking at a certain case, state and foreign security policy. In particular this volume explores the identity of the United States through military documents on perception management in conflict from 1991-2007 shedding light on the 'othering' and the 'selfing' that occurs in these particular war stories. In doing so it lays bare the gendered ideologies that underpins US identity between these years as well as exploring potential spaces for alternatives. Thus, this book ventures a detailed and unique look at a particular aspect of the gendered reproduction of the state"-- (site de l'éditeur)