Citizen-Soldiers and Manly Warriors: Military Service and Gender in the Civic Republican Tradition

Author:   Claire R. Snyder
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN:  

9780847694433


Pages:   192
Publication Date:   28 August 1999
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Citizen-Soldiers and Manly Warriors: Military Service and Gender in the Civic Republican Tradition


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Overview

"What happens in a tradition that links citizenship with soldiering when women become citizens? This is an analysis of the theory and practice of the citizen-soldier in historical context. Using a postmodern feminist lens, R. Claire Snyder reveals that within the citizen-soldier tradition, citizenship and masculinity are simultaneously constituted through engagement in civic and martial practices. Seeking to sever the connection between masculinity and citizenship, Snyder calls for women to make ""gender trouble"" by engaging in the practices traditionally associated with masculine republican citizenship. However, in order to reconstitute the citizen-soldier tradition, the only tradition we have that holds the military up to democratic standards, we must not only ""trouble"" but also reconfigure our understandings of gender and citizenship. Thus gender parity in the military is not enough. We must also change the type of masculinity produced by the military, reintroduce the military to its civic purposes, expand the ""citizenship of civic practices"" to include other non-martial forms of service, and give citizens a greater role in political decision making."

Full Product Details

Author:   Claire R. Snyder
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
Imprint:   Rowman & Littlefield
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 23.60cm
Weight:   0.399kg
ISBN:  

9780847694433


ISBN 10:   0847694437
Pages:   192
Publication Date:   28 August 1999
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Reviews

The media frenzy surrounding 'Tailhook, ' women in combat, and gays in the military often obscures the fact that issues of gender have been at the heart of a centuries old historical debate about the 'citizen-soldier.' In Citizen Soldiers and Manly Warriors, Claire Snyder does a superb job of recreating and critically assessing the civic republicanism debate as it illuminates current controversies surrounding women's role in the military. This is a work of political philosophy that speaks directly to practical policy, a work about gender and military service that speaks directly to the conceptualization of citizenship. It is thus of equal importance to scholars and to citizens.--Barber, Benjamin


Citizen-Soldiers and Manly Warriors addresses several audiences with connected thematic nodes. Political theorists concerned with democratic participation and citizenship, historians of the relationship between martial service and citizenship, scholars interested in the rise of the militia movements and their relationship to democratic rhetoric, and finally, those interested in the practices and meanings of women's inclusion in the military will all find points of interest here. The author does important work in describing the potential uses of social construction in terms of citizens as soldiers. Generally, this book contributes an important perspective to the ongoing conversation about new modes of envisioning soldiering and citizenship into the twenty-first century and Snyder's work to disclose and disrupt the gendered work of constituting citizen-soldiers is admirable. H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online Anyone who is interested in the status of gender in the military will find R. Claire Snyder's argument absolutely fascinating. Making splendid use of contemporary feminist scholarship, Snyder shows us why our best democratic aspirations will remain unfulfilled until we fundamentally rethink the role of women in the armed forces. -- Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn, Whitman College The media frenzy surrounding 'Tailhook,' women in combat, and gays in the military often obscures the fact that issues of gender have been at the heart of a centuries old historical debate about the 'citizen-soldier.' In Citizen Soldiers and Manly Warriors, Claire Snyder does a superb job of recreating and critically assessing the civic republicanism debate as it illuminates current controversies surrounding women's role in the military. This is a work of political philosophy that speaks directly to practical policy, a work about gender and military service that speaks directly to the conceptualization of citizenship. It is thus of equal importance to scholars and to citizens. -- Benjamin Barber, Rutgers University Snyder deserves praise for taking up a subject at the beginning of her academic career likely to win her many more enemies than friends. She has produced a fascinating book that deserves to be taken seriously by feminist scholars, specialists in military theory and history, and by policymakers. -- Leonard V. Smith, Oberlin College, Ohio The Journal Of Military History R. Claire Snyder has written an exciting book about an unconventional subject. Her study of citizen-soldiers offers new insights into the meaning of civic republicanism, the role of gender, and the character of a truly democratic order. The book deserves a wide audience and I have no doubt it will receive it. -- Stephen Eric Bronner, Rutgers University The book is quite readable and provides scholars with enough background to understand the concept of the Citizen Soldier and how it is interwoven from the past into the present time in the configuration of U.S. military policy and rituals. Snyder creates a convincing argument for the perfomance creation of gender. Her book methodically builds on the Citizen Soldier ideas of Machiavelli and Rousseau and shows how much of this civic republicanism of today is a product of Western thought in the past. New Political Science An excellent study... Her exploration of the 'women in the military' issue is analytically the sharpest one around, and highly recommended to anyone in feminist theory, gender studies, or international relations. -- Terrell Carver Political Studies A clearly written and interesting exploration of the citizen-soldier tradition from a postmodern feminist perspective. -- Judith Hicks Stiehm, Florida International University American Political Science Review Citizen-Soldiers and Manly Warriors does its best work in the rich descriptions of Machiavelli and Rousseau, as they represent an origin story of civic republicanism and liberalism carried forward to United States political ideals and practices. The author does important work in describing the potential uses of social construction in terms of citizens as soldiers. Generally, this book contributes an important perspective to the ongoing conversation about new modes of envisioning soldiering and citizenship into the twenty-first century and Snyder's work to disclose and disrupt the gendered work of constituting citizen-soldiers is admirable. Minerva: Quarterly Report


Author Information

R. Claire Snyder is assistant professor in the Department of Public and International affairs at George Mason University.

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