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The Duty to Protect: Gender in the Swedish Practice of Conscription

På svenska

Author

  • Annica Kronsell
  • Erika Svedberg

Summary, in English

In this article, we turn first to a brief discussion of feminist contributions in the field of security, defense, and collective identity, and then argue that Swedish nationalism is tied to a particular form of collective identity formation through the practice of conscription. Drawing on Elshtain's notions of 'just warriors' and 'beautiful souls', we go on to spell out how women, historically, have been situated within the discourse of militarism. Finally, we look at how the contribution of women to the military has been perceived and argued, and then point out how a small number of female soldiers may be instrumental in exposing a particular value system of gender, citizenship, and collective identity.



Demilitarization isn't any more automatic than militarization. Indeed, it may be a far stickier process because it goes against the grain of the feminine and masculine conventions and political strategies now prevalent in so many societies. (Enloe, 1993: 259)

Publishing year

2001

Language

English

Pages

153-176

Publication/Series

Cooperation and Conflict

Volume

36

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Topic

  • Political Science

Keywords

  • military
  • Gender
  • conscription
  • feminism
  • Sweden
  • citizenship

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0010-8367