1 This is an Author’s Original Manuscript of an article published by the African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, Spring 2011, available online: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2979/africonfpeacrevi.1.1.100 RAPE IN CONTEMPORARY WARFARE: The Role of Globalization in Wartime Sexual Violence Sara Meger The systematic rape of women has been a regular feature of war and in today’s civil conflicts, rape is a systematic and brutal weapon used by armed groups against civilian populations. Though rape has occurred in mass and systematic forms previously, it was not as primary of a weapon as it is in contemporary conflicts. Civil conflict has become the primary form of warfare around the world, employing smaller arms and less conventional tactics than traditional inter-state wars. It is in this context that rape has become a central feature of contemporary war. The aim of this article is to understand firstly the function of rape in contemporary conflict and then explain the wider systemic factors that construct sexual violence as an effective and strategic weapon of war. This article argues that the extreme forms of sexual violence being used in contemporary conflicts are a result of the nature and context of these conflicts. Using the Democratic Republic of Congo as a case study, this article argues that the extreme levels of sexual violence being witnessed in this conflict is a direct outcome of the changed nature of conflict, which is itself a consequence of processes of international political and economic globalization. Keywords: globalization, sexual violence, new wars, resource wars, Democratic Republic of Congo Rape has been a constant feature of warfare, perpetrated by armed groups throughout history. Feminist investigation into rape as a weapon of war in recent decades has contributed significantly to our understanding of its form, function, and prevalence; however, examination into sexual violence in conflict has been largely confined to feminist research. Further investigation is required into the relationship between the nature of contemporary armed conflict and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. This paper examines the connections between the nature of conflict, the role of globalization in the international scramble for scarce resources, and the use of sexual violence as a strategic weapon. In the 1990s, a new discourse emerged in conflict studies regarding the ‘changed nature of war.’ This ‘new war’ discourse, most prominently represented by the work of Mary Kaldor (1999), traced the changing form of violent conflict, notably