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9 Chi.-Kent J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/chkjicl9 and id is 1 raw text is: (0 UNLIKELY BEDFELLOWS: FEMINIST THEORY AND THE WAR ON TERROR by Rachael Lorna Johnstone* ABSTRACT The contemporary threat of international terrorism has prompted states and scholars to reassess the public/private divide as it manifests in international law with particular regard to the principles of state responsibility. Much of the counter-terrorism debate reflects the feminist literature on international law published over the last two decades. This paper exposes striking similarities between the counter-terrorism arguments and those of feminist scholars. In both cases, the classical dichotomy between public and private spheres is challenged and states are called to be accountable for the unlawful conduct of non-state actors. Nonetheless, the public/private dichotomy remains at the heart of counter-terrorism strategies as well as the broader regimes of international law. Examples discussed in the conclusion include the non- recognition of enemy combatants as state organs or agents; privatization of military and non- military operations during the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq; the privatization of gender discrimination in state (re-)building; and reinforcement of gender stereotypes and women's private roles in the War on Terror. While the proponents of counter-terrorism leverage arguments against the public-private dichotomy in their favor, the similarities between the two positions end where the anti-terrorist position ultimately returns to the dichotomy and reinforces it in order to uphold state interests, effectively turning its back on women's rights. Rachael Loma Johnstone is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Akureyri, Iceland where she has been based since 2003. She has studied at the University of Glasgow (LL.B. (Hons), 1999), the European Academy of Legal Theory, Brussels (LL.M., 2000) and the University of Toronto (S.J.D., 2004). She would like to thank Margr6t Henreksd6ttir, Kenneth Dorter, Garrett Barden and Giorgio Baruchello for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. All errors are the author's own. 9 Chi-Kent J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1

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