Gendered Intractability

Which socio-psychological and gender-specific dynamics underlie national identity constructions in Israel and Palestine? In which ways do they contribute to the cycle of violence in the Middle East?
This book combines approaches from political psychology and feminist peace- and conflict studies to explore the subjective meanings of national identity constructions in Israel and Palestine. It shows how national identity, gender and the willingness to employ violence are intertwined with each other and intends to create a deeper understanding for the conflict dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
First, the most important socio-psychological and gender-sensitive dynamics of national identity constructions are presented and then conceptualized through a gender-critical revision of the “ethos of conflict”. Then, the extensive discussion of the inter-societal conflict history, its intra-societal reverberations and its meanings for the gender-regime sets these identity dynamics into the specific context of the intractable conflict in the Middle East. Finally, the multi-method approach based on a Q-methodological study and conventional R-methods is presented and analyzed.