By Aileen Schuurmans Conflicts often seem to follow a similar pattern: men fight, women and children suffer, and peace is achieved through the external intervention of an armed peacekeeping mission. However, more goes on beneath the surface. We often perceive conflict through a male perspective, while...
By Emanuel Skoog A lot has been written about China’s role in Africa and the underlying factors pertaining to its activities on the continent. Far less discussed, is the role and spread of Russia’s current presence and plans for Africa. During the heyday of the Soviet...
By Jessica Sciarone In 2015, the world was shocked when many Western women, young and old, decided to give in to the siren’s call of the newly established caliphate, comprising of parts of Syria and Iraq. Traditionally, women have been regarded as nurturing, caring and peaceful,...
By Steven van der Plas In December 2017, an Iranian woman was incarcerated after she removed her hijab on a busy street in protest of the country’s strict religious laws. Footage of this event was widely shared on social media, which inspired many more Iranian women...
Magazine 44:2 Read about the different roles of women in international peacebuilding, feminist movements in the Arab world, as peacekeepers in the army and as perpetrators in criminal and terrorist organizations, in this issue on WOMEN, CONFLICT & SECURITY. [3d-flip-book mode="fullscreen" urlparam="fb3d-page" id="1873" title="false"] ...
Lorenz van der Ven Lebanon is facing a societal stand-still. Already suffering from a struggling economy, the country is facing lasting protests as well. From impoverished Tripoli in the north to Tyre in the south, from the capital Beirut in the west to Baalback in the...
By Willemijn Bertels To many, the mafia is perceived as something mythical, a legend of Italy’s past. Books and movies such as The Godfather often portray romanticized images of bold men defending their family’s honour, theatrically murdering anyone standing in their way. A contrasting, but equally...
The war in the Donbass region, following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, served as a flagrant reminder for the international community of similar conflicts in Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan in the 1990’s. Indeed, the separatist movements in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts...
The ongoing back and forth between the people of Hong Kong and Beijing is the literal embodiment of David and Goliath. Only this time David is equipped with a mask and umbrella, dodging teargas and baton, and Goliath is sitting safely in one of the...
By Giles Longley-Cook When vast swathes of Syria rose up in rebellion in 2011, many commentators predicted that Assad’s regime would fall. Eight years later, not only is the grueling civil war winding down, but Assad looks set to win it. Much less attention was paid to...