Children and Global Conflict

Kim Huynh is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University, Canberra. He teaches courses in refugee politics, political philosophy and international relations. He is author of Where the Sea Takes Us (2008), and co-editor with Jim George of The Culture Wars: Australian and American Politics in the 21st Century (2009). Bina D'Costa is a fellow with the Research School of Asia and the Pacific (RSAP) and teaches at the Politics and IR program in the School of Culture, History and Languages at the Australian National University. Her publications include Nationbuilding: Gender and War Crimes in the Asia-Pacific (2011) and Gender and Global Politics in the Asia-Pacific, co-edited with Katrina Lee-Koo (2009). Katrina Lee-Koo is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the Australian National University. She teaches and researches in the areas of security studies and the gender/identity politics of conflict and post-conflict zones. She is co-editor of Gender and Global Politics in the Asia-Pacific (2009) with Bina D'Costa.

• Introduction: why children matter to global conflict; 1. Children and armed conflict: mapping the terrain, 2. Children and agency: care-takers, free-rangers and everyday life; 3. Children and international relations: creating spaces for children; 4. The rights of the child: political history, practices and protection; 5. Child soldiers: causes, solutions and cultures; 6. Child forced migrants: biopolitics, autonomy and ambivalence; 7. Children and peacebuilding: propagating peace; 8. Children and justice: past crimes, healing and the future; 9. Who speaks for children: advocacy, activism and resistance; Conclusion; Appendix.

'This is an important piece of work and fills what, for a long time, has been a significant gap in the literature - the relationship between children and conflict and the international responses to it. Huynh, D'Costa and Lee-Koo have written a book that students, academics and policymakers should read - and with some urgency.' Ali Watson, University of St Andrews, Scotland