‘Children and armed conflict’ and the field of security studies

Abstract

Opening analyses in international relations (IR) to include children as significant security actors has much to offer by way of insight into the workings of global politics and security. A number of scholars have argued persuasively why children should be included in the study of IR, in the specific areas of global politics (Brocklehurst 2006), the international political economy (Watson 2009), security studies (Wagnsson, Hellman, and Holmberg 2010), and international humanitarian and human rights law (Carpenter 2010). Topically, scholars in IR and related fields – such as international law and peace studies – interested in children have examined child soldiers (Brett and McCallin 1998; Brett and Specht 2004; Cohn and Goodwin-Gill 1994; Denov 2006, 2010; Happold 2005; Singer 2006; Wessells 2006), the militarization of childhood (Beier 2011; Brocklehurst 2006; Lee-Koo 2011; Mazurana and Carlson 2008), children born of wartime sexual violence (Carpenter 2007, 2010), and children/youth as contributors to post-conflict peace-building (McEvoy-Levy 2006; Wessells and Monteiro 2006). What can we make of this interest in children in conflict, how should we go about theorizing children in IR, and what significance does this bear on the study of security in IR?