Women in revolutionary organisations
Abstract
The main aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the female revolutionary is no
different from her male compatriot. She enters the organisation in the same manner;
she shares the same ideology; she participates equally within the revolutionary
organisation; and, if she leaves the struggle, she does so in much the same way as her
peers. The thesis uses a framework based upon New Social Movement theory to
establish the social and historical context of the women by comparing the following five
aspects of a new social movement: historical context, leadership, membership, collective
action and group ideology and the revolutionary dimension. Before the three historical
narratives on the American Movement, the West German student movement and the
Palestinian Resistance Movement are undertaken, a literature review covers Social
Movement theory, New Social Movement theory, theories on Violence and Terrorism
Studies. The thesis also looks at how women have been gendered in criminology and
war and how this gendering has influenced some of the leading research on the female
terrorist. In order to show that the female revolutionary is very similar to the male, this
thesis examines the three historical narratives mentioned above. After reviewing the
social and historical context, the respective new social movement, the role of women in
the revolutionary organisations (the Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction and
Fateh and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) are reviewed in depth by
studying their entry, ideology, group dynamics and exit.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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