This chapter examines the “success stories” of the WPS agenda, interrogating how the agenda emerges as a triumph of transnational advocacy, a step forward in the seemingly endless search for strategies to mitigate against gendered inequalities and discrimination, and the prompt for—or ally of—related policy initiatives such as the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative or the “feminist foreign policy” commitments of Sweden and Canada. Multiple articulations of success feature in the narrative of the agenda; for the purpose of identifying the fabula, I have organized these into two primary dimensions. First, the narration of the WPS agenda frequently cites the agenda itself as a success. The second dimension of the success story is the narration of moderate successes in implementation of the WPS agenda. These are the moments of change and, by implication, improvement to organizational structure or individual experience that the agenda has brought about. Over time, the ways in which these victories are presented, particularly in the Secretary-General’s reports but also in the contributions to and statements at Security Council Open Debates and even in interview data, rely more and more on quantitative data. Further, in terms of subject specificity, these successes are related increasingly to the prevention of sexual violence and women’s participation in peace processes, while other dimensions of the agenda are less well attended.
Sustaining the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda: The Role of UN Peacekeeping in Africa
