{"title":"The Determinants of Insurgent Gender Governance","authors":"Tessa Devereaux","doi":"10.1017/s0020818324000419","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Under what conditions do insurgents challenge gender norms in the midst of conflict? And what do they gain by doing so? Using an original data set of 137 armed groups fighting between 1950 and 2019, I argue that armed groups challenge gender customs to reshape local power relations. With 40 percent of rebel groups regulating civilian gender customs during civil war, this strategy is remarkably widespread, comparable to taxation or the provision of basic security in its prevalence. I demonstrate that armed groups exploit pre-existing gender grievances, using strategies like punishing domestic violence (9 percent of groups), banning dowries (15 percent), and enforcing dress codes (11 percent) to empower targeted subsections of the population and undermine local elites. I combine cross-national analysis with qualitative case studies of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Katiba Macina, two Islamist groups in Mali. This allows me to demonstrate how the approach to local elites drives gender governance in two groups with a shared ideology, goals, and societal context.</p>","PeriodicalId":48388,"journal":{"name":"International Organization","volume":"132 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Organization","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020818324000419","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Under what conditions do insurgents challenge gender norms in the midst of conflict? And what do they gain by doing so? Using an original data set of 137 armed groups fighting between 1950 and 2019, I argue that armed groups challenge gender customs to reshape local power relations. With 40 percent of rebel groups regulating civilian gender customs during civil war, this strategy is remarkably widespread, comparable to taxation or the provision of basic security in its prevalence. I demonstrate that armed groups exploit pre-existing gender grievances, using strategies like punishing domestic violence (9 percent of groups), banning dowries (15 percent), and enforcing dress codes (11 percent) to empower targeted subsections of the population and undermine local elites. I combine cross-national analysis with qualitative case studies of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Katiba Macina, two Islamist groups in Mali. This allows me to demonstrate how the approach to local elites drives gender governance in two groups with a shared ideology, goals, and societal context.
在什么条件下,叛乱分子会在冲突中挑战性别规范?他们这样做又能得到什么呢?我利用1950年至2019年间137个武装团体的原始数据集,认为武装团体挑战了性别习俗,重塑了地方权力关系。内战期间,有40%的反叛组织规范了平民性别习俗,这一策略非常普遍,其普及程度堪比税收或提供基本安全保障。我证明了武装组织利用先前存在的性别不满,使用惩罚家庭暴力(9%的组织)、禁止嫁妆(15%)和强制着装规定(11%)等策略,赋予目标人群权力,削弱当地精英。我将跨国分析与马里伊斯兰马格里布基地组织(al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb)和卡提巴马西纳(Katiba Macina)这两个伊斯兰组织的定性案例研究结合起来。这让我能够展示,在两个拥有共同意识形态、目标和社会背景的群体中,针对地方精英的方法如何推动性别治理。
期刊介绍:
International Organization (IO) is a prominent peer-reviewed journal that comprehensively covers the field of international affairs. Its subject areas encompass foreign policies, international relations, political economy, security policies, environmental disputes, regional integration, alliance patterns, conflict resolution, economic development, and international capital movements. Continuously ranked among the top journals in the field, IO does not publish book reviews but instead features high-quality review essays that survey new developments, synthesize important ideas, and address key issues for future scholarship.