Feminist international relations in the age of the war on terror: Ideologies, religions and conflict

This article introduces this theme issue and examines how Feminist International Relations is responding to the war on terror. The articles address ideologies, religions and conflict and highlight the enduring problem of the absence of women's voices in the theory and practice of mainstream International Relations. I argue that the question of agency is central to the issue as a whole: women's agency or lack of it, to shape not only our own lives and destinies, but those of the wider societies to which we belong. I argue this is best interpreted through a ‘transitional nexus’ representing the twofold situation women and feminists confront when working for change. This involves not only the kinds of change women are working towards, but also the historically created patriarchal context affecting how such efforts are recognized, or more usually not recognized, because of the marginal status assigned to women and their diverse interests over a long history and across different societies of the world...