Proceedings of the 24th International Academic Conference, Barcelona

SECURITY OF OPPRESSED AT MEN’S WAR

DENIZ ALCA

Abstract:

By the course of time to address human societies the term “men” has been used so manhood became the decisive constituent of “humanity”. Security issues of any given society were and always have been the major justification instrument for this approach. Beyond humanities attachment to masculinity, war and eo ipso peace are Men’s decision to make. So rationel of men becomes the only logical explanation of the public realm. This understanding of common good comprehends war, peace and their contents limited to states, armies, soldiers and land, then the rest is just collateral damage who are mostly women as the use of rape, murder and 'scorched earth' policies become conventional for current conflicts especially at North African region. But what if this collateral damage (not only at war but also at peace) is the main problematic issue for the humanitarian society? From this standing point, our study aims to criticize the main stream security approach from three angles. Firstly the gender blindness of traditional security approach will be criticized. Alternatively, gender consciousness or engendered security approach will be analyzed in a different perspective for peacebuilding process. Than secondly top-down comprehension of security and its implications will be compared with bottom-to-top understanding of security. Top-down comprehension of securities’ peremptory tone and uncompromising nature’s disadvantages at a multi-dimensional conflict will be brought face to face by opportunities of bottom-to-top understanding of security for conflict resolution. Thirdly the perception of total security approach will be analyzed and perception of security of the oppressed will be discussed as a solution to the ongoing civil wars and conflicts by bringing a fresh look to the power politics. The desired output from this study is to unveil the illusional nature of traditional security approach and reveal the advantages of alternative approaches for peacebuilding process, conflict resolution and power politics.

Keywords: gender blind, gender consciousness, engendered security, Men’s War, traditional security, top-down sucurity, bottom-to-top security, conflict resolution, peace building, power politics.

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2016.024.003

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