Regendered Soldiers and the Transformation of Hegemonic Masculinity

Abstract

This chapter turns to consider in more depth the idea that particular constructions of British soldier identity can make a difference to the doing or undoing of Empire. It is focused on the implications of soldier identity for the success of military operations – in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond – in terms of achieving peace and security for ordinary people. The first section focuses on Afghanistan and contends that the counterproductive ‘kinetic approach’ to operations in Helmand province can only be understood by paying attention to the hegemony of war-fighting masculinity in the British Army. The second section goes on to explore why the war-fighting approach dominates, offering reflections on the ‘stickiness’ of gender and the role of operational context. The third section argues that although the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan can be characterized as imperial, the examples of soldiers constructing peacebuilding masculinity should not be dismissed. The fourth and final section develops this argument by utilizing the concept of ‘regendered soldiers’ and ‘regendered militaries’, first introduced by Cynthia Cockburn and Meliha Hubic in 2002.KeywordsGender RelationKinetic ApproachHegemonic MasculinityFeminist StrategyFeminist ArgumentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.