War, Women, and Power : From Violence to Mobilization in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Rwanda And Bosnia Both Experienced Mass Violence In The Early 1990s. Less Than Ten Years Later, Rwandans Surprisingly Elected The World's Highest Level Of Women To Parliament. In Bosnia, Women Launched Thousands Of Community Organizations That Became Spaces For Informal Political Participation. The Political Mobilization Of Women In Both Countries Complicates The Popular Image Of Women As Merely The Victims And Spoils Of War. Through A Close Examination Of These Cases, Marie E. Berry Unpacks The Puzzling Relationship Between War And Women's Political Mobilization. Drawing From Over 260 Interviews With Women In Both Countries, She Argues That War Can Reconfigure Gendered Power Relations By Precipitating Demographic, Economic, And Cultural Shifts. In The Aftermath, However, Many Of The Gains Women Made Were Set Back. This Book Offers An Entirely New View Of Women And War And Includes Concrete Suggestions For Policy Makers, Development Organizations, And Activists Supporting Women's Rights.--publisher's Summary. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Dedication 7 Epigraph 8 Table of contents 9 List of figures 12 List of tables 13 List of maps 14 Acknowledgments 15 Cast of Characters: Rwanda 19 List of abbreviations 21 Cast of Characters: Bosnia 23 List of abbreviations 25 Summary 27 1 War, Women, and Power 29 Women and War 30 Transformative Power of War 33 Understanding Formal and Everyday Politics 37 Argument 42 Research Design: A Historical-Institutionalist Approach 43 Case Studies 44 Conducting Research in Rwanda and Bosnia Today 46 Data and Methodology 47 On the “Politics of Naming” and the Genocide Debate 50 Structure of the Book 54 2 Historical Roots of Mass Violence in Rwanda 56 Ethnicity in the Precolonial Period 59 Gender in the Colonial Period: 1895–1962 60 Gender in the Household 61 Belgian Era: 1920–1962 62 The Changing Status of Women during Revolution and the Postcolonial Period 64 Women in the Postcolonial Period 66 Origins of the Rwandan Patriotic Front 67 Civil War Begins 69 “Democratization” 72 Genocide Begins, Civil War Continues 76 National Trends in Violence 78 Sexualized Violence 80 Regional Variation 82 Kigali 83 Musanze (Ruhengeri) 85 Bugesera (Kigali Ngali) 86 A Tentative Peace: RPF Victory 87 Conclusion 89 3 War and Structural Shifts in Rwanda 90 Demographic Shifts 90 Displacement and Population Movement 91 Emigration 91 Immigration 94 Internal Displacement 96 Demographic Shifts Lead to Sex Imbalance 97 Economic Shifts 100 Cultural Shifts 103 Conclusion 108 4 Women’s Political Mobilization in Rwanda 110 A “Politics of Practice”: Everyday Politics 113 New Activities through Civil Society Organizations 114 Support Groups 115 Income-Generating Groups 117 From Grassroots Organizations to Local Politics 118 Who Joined? Who Led? Why? 119 International Organizations Incentivize Grassroots Organizations to Formalize 120 From Informal Organizations to Overt Political Action 121 National Women’s Council 124 Formal Politics 125 Cooption of the Civil Sector 128 Conclusion 129 5 Historical Roots of Mass Violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina 130 Women in the Interwar Period and the First Yugoslavia 134 World War II 136 Tito’s Yugoslavia 138 Mid-1970s: Feminist Movement Emerges in Yugoslavia 140 Build-Up to the War 142 Visions for a “Greater Serbia” 142 War Begins 144 Siege of Sarajevo 147 Destroy and Create 149 Bosanska Krajina 151 War in the Drina Valley 153 Additional War Dynamics 155 Sexualized Violence 155 War Comes to an End 158 6 War and Structural Shifts in Bosnia-Herzegovina 162 Demographic Shifts 162 Displacement and Population Movement 163 Emigration 163 Internal Displacement 164 Demographic Shifts Lead to Sex Imbalance 166 Economic Shifts 168 Impact on Women 170 Women Form Organizations 172 Cultural Shifts 174 Crossing Ethno-National Divides 177 Conclusion 178 7 Women’s Political Mobilization in Bosnia-Herzegovina 179 A “Politics of Practice”: Everyday Politics 182 Testimony as Politics 185 New Activities through Civil Society Organizations 186 Strategic Use of Humanitarianism 188 Feminist Advocacy Emerges 191 Resistance and Defiance: Bridging Informal and Formal Politics 192 Women in Black 193 Mothers of Srebrenica 195 Formal Political Participation 199 Conclusion 204 8 Limits of Mobilization 206 The Political Settlement 207 The Rwandan State 209 Hierarchies of Victimhood 210 The Bosnian State 213 Hierarchies of Victimization 215 International Actors in “Aidland” 220 International Involvement in Rwanda 222 Problems in Implementation 224 International Involvement in Bosnia 225 Problems in Implementation 226 Revitalization of Patriarchy 229 Rwanda 231 Bosnia 233 Conclusion 235 9 Conclusion 238 Revisiting the Argument 239 Extending the Argument 240 Limitations 242 Theoretical Contributions 243 An Absence of War, Still Far from Peace 246 Notes 249 1 War, Women, and Power 249 2 Historical Roots of Mass Violence in Rwanda 251 3 War and Structural Shifts in Rwanda 255 4 Women’s Political Mobilization in Rwanda 256 5 Historical Roots of Mass Violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina 256 6 War and Structural Shifts in Bosnia-Herzegovina 259 7 Women’s Political Mobilization in Bosnia-Herzegovina 260 8 Limits of Mobilization 261 9 Conclusion 263 Glossary 265 Bibliography 267 Index 295 Just ten years after the war and genocide in their country, Rwandans elected the world's highest level of women to parliament. Marie E. Berry relates the remarkable ascent of women to their experience of violence. Analyzing conflict and its aftermath in Rwanda and Bosnia, she explores how women resist and survive during war. While dominant narratives emphasize war's destructive effects, this book demonstrates how war can open up unexpected opportunities for women's political mobilization