1987. The Cold War is winding down but don't tell that to the major players in the struggle for global superiority. Rick Moreno, working a routine assignment to corral a Filipino seaman who has jumped bond on a drug charge, is plunged into a convoluted web of intrigue and mystery involving a missing ship, Soviet attempts to gain a foothold in the Caribbean region, the Puerto Rican separatist group (FALN) and is treated to a stay in a Cuban maximum security prison. The Case of the Liberian Lady shines a light into the dark corners of political gamesmanship as it is played on the world stage. Join Rick Moreno on his always exciting, sometimes deadly journey through this maze of geopolitical machination. How much of this narrative is actually ripped from the pages of history is left for you to decide.

In the early 2000s, Liberian women wearing wrap skirts and white T-shirts, shouting: ‘We want peace, no more war’, attracted international attention. After almost fifteen years of civil war, the enduring active, multifaceted, and non-violent campaigning for peace by women’s organisations contributed to the end of the fighting and the signing of a peace agreement between the warring factions. Although it is widely assumed that women’s inclusion in peace processes yields greater attention to women’s issues and needs in the aftermath of a conflict, this is only partly the case in Liberia. Thus, this analysis looks beyond the extraordinary commitment by women in Liberia and deals with the questions to what extent their role in the peace process has contributed to gender-sensitive outcomes in post-conflict Liberian society and why greater gender sensitivity was not achieved. By focusing on manifestations of patterns of masculinity in the public and private spheres, Anne Theobald identifies factors at different levels of analysis within different time frames that elucidate the unexpected outcome. Not only does this provide for a more encompassing understanding of dynamics of gender relations and context-specific variables impeding gender sensitivity in post-conflict settings, but it also helps to refine prevailing theoretical approaches on gender in peacemaking and peacebuilding and to develop more holistic, context-specific, and efficient policy approaches, which can effectively lead to gender-sensitive peace.

Although many readers will find Going All the Way Round a guide to the care of their own aging parents, it is primarily the story of the author's ambivalence about her care of her parents as they aged. She hadn't expected to be a nurse. She found all kinds of surprises in dealing with her mother and father and the demands of care-giving. For example, there were her attempts to hire aides for her dad who wouldn't steal the silverware or bring their horses or husbands to work with them, and her mother's forgotten savings accounts. Dealing with their many problems made the author a strong and determined person. Despite the pain involved, she would not have changed anything.

This book offers an accessible overview of the multiple, interdependent issues related to the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) global agenda. The first introductory overview of the WPS agenda as articulated in multiple national and international resolutions, statements, and initiatives, the book provides a link between the general public and security practitioners to an important but still largely unknown set of global objectives regarding gender equality and long-term peace and stability. Within the context of the changing nature of warfare, and through consideration of empirical evidence, the volume examines the definitions, theoretical underpinnings and methodological challenges associated with WPS. It then discusses with more specificity violence against women, women civilians in war, the role of women in peacemaking, women in the military and in development, and women politicians. The book concludes with a look to the future and number of action items from the macro to the micro level. While challenges and opportunities related to the WPS agenda are global, US policy action and inaction related to WPS and gender equality are provided as examples of what politically needs to be done, has been done, and obstacles to WPS furtherance potentially to be encountered by all countries. This book will be of much interest to students of peace studies, security studies, gender studies and IR.

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of an epochal shift in global order – the fact that global-south countries have taken up leadership roles in peacekeeping missions, humanitarian interventions, and transnational military industries: Brazil has taken charge of the UN military mission in Haiti; Nigeria has deployed peacekeeping troops throughout West Africa; Indonesians have assumed crucial roles in UN Afghanistan operations; Fijians, South Africans, and Chileans have became essential actors in global mercenary firms; Venezuela and its Bolivarian allies have established a framework for "revolutionary" humanitarian interventions; and Turkey, India, Kenya, and Egypt are asserting themselves in bold new ways on the global stage. In this context, this collection sheds critical light on intersections between imperialism and humanitarianism, between neoliberal globalization and "rescue industry" transnationalism, and between patterns of geopolitical hegemony and trajectories of peacekeeping internationalism. These case studies are grouped into three clusters (I) Globalizing Peacekeeper Identities, (II) Assertive "Regional Internationalisms," and (III) Emergent Alternative Paradigms. Together, these articulate a new research agenda and offer significant contributions to fields of global studies, transnational gender and race studies, critical security studies and peace studies, comparative politics, police and military sociology, Third World diplomatic history, and international relations. This book was published as a special issue of Globalizations.

The title Ambassador conjures up images of a gentleman with a chauffeur-driven limousine, flanked at plush cocktail parties by his perfect wife, who normally handles state dinners, tea parties, and flower arrangements. S^D'ephocle shows how this picture changes completely when the ambassador happens to be a woman, and how the role of the spouse of the ambassador changes as a result. Then, They Were Twelve is a historical account of the Washington diplomatic scene of the late 1990s, when the number of women ambassadors reached the double digits for the first time. Séphocle provides a series of candid and stimulating conversations with the women ambassadors about their lives, their work, and the struggle for the advancement of women in their countries. These women of state from various corners of the globe demonstrate a unique approach to diplomacy. This book will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, students, and the concerned reader involved with diplomacy and women's studies.

This volume re-centres African women scholars in the discourse on African women and peacebuilding, combining theoretical reflections with case studies in a range of African countries. The chapters outline the history of African women’s engagement in peacebuilding, introducing new and neglected themes such as youth, disability, and religious peacebuilding, and laying the foundations for new theoretical insights. Providing case studies from across Africa, the contributors highlights the achievements and challenges characterising women’s contributions to peacebuilding on the continent. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of peacebuilding, African security and gender.