WPS and Adopted Security Council Resolutions

This chapter outlines the architecture of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda at the United Nations. Building on the explanation of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 provided earlier in the volume, it explores the meanings of “women,” “peace,” and “security” that are constructed through the WPS policy framework. The chapter traces the continuities and changes to the central concepts in the resolutions and reflects on the implications of these representational practices as they affect the provisions and principles of the WPS agenda in practice. Moreover, the chapter draws out the key provisions of each resolution to explore the tensions that have arisen over time regarding the types of energy and commitment that have become manifest in the architecture supporting WPS implementation. This in turn enables a brief analysis of likely future directions of WPS practice and a comment on the ways in which Security Council dynamics might affect and effect certain possibilities while excluding or proscribing others.

WPS and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict

This chapter explores the capacity of a dedicated office on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SVC) to facilitate meaningful change in UN operations. To do so, the chapter reviews research and policy trends on SVC as part of WPS agenda 2008–2016, as well as UN Security Council Resolution 1325.This chapter engages directly with the policy challenges and institutional developments leading up to and following the creation of the position of UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on SVC, which was proposed in UN Security Council Resolution 1889 (2009). It sets out the evolution of the role and the office in terms of leadership and competition within the UN and the global agenda on combatting sexual violence in conflict since 2010. In doing so, this chapter provides valuable insights and lessons regarding the institutionalization of WPS. Specifically, it is argued that the evolution of the office of the Secretary-General for SVC demonstrates the difficulties associated with reforming and coordinating strategies on WPS within the UN system.

The WPS Agenda

This chapter offers a postcolonial critique of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. Moreover, it problematizes the emphasis on gender equality and women’s empowerment as universal outcomes for the implementation of a gender-just peace. In doing so, it suggests that the normative evolution of the WPS agenda that derives from UN Security Council Resolution 1325 produces a discourse for understanding WPS that perceives of individuals in the Global South as merely recipients of norms. To demonstrate the implications of this claim, the chapter draws from attempts to include the WPS agenda in the development of policies designed to counter violent extremism (CVE). It highlights the failure of these policies to account for the complex histories of political violence and extremist ideologies rooted in colonial encounters. In response, this chapter argues that for the WPS agenda to acquire universal character and meaning, the Global South must be employed as a site of knowledge and investigation.

The Challenge of Foreign Policy in the WPS Agenda

Drawing on the cases of the United States and Sweden, this chapter considers the conceptual and practical issues associated with the implementation of a feminist foreign policy (FFP). While Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom of Sweden is perhaps the most vocal and overt advocate of the concept, the US State Department under Hillary Clinton also arguably promoted policies that were feminist in nature. This chapter examines the conceptualization of the term “feminist foreign policy,” probing dimensions, contestations, and inconsistencies. It explores the inherent pitfalls and misconceptions surrounding FFP, as well as the positive contributions of policies that promote gender equality. This chapter concludes that while FFP is not inherently pacifist, it does prioritize peace, and thus engaging in military interventions and alliances requires careful consideration under feminist just war principles. Moreover, this chapter argues that the dissemination of gender equality norms act as a mechanism that facilitates a more stable, secure, and peaceful nation.

WPS and SEA in Peacekeeping Operations

In the past fifteen years, despite the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security and the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on Zero Tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by peacekeepers, abuse by interveners remains prevalent in peace operations. SEA is not only perpetrated by peacekeepers, but also aid workers, diplomats, private contractors, and others associated with interventions. This chapter maps the extent and main characteristics of SEA in peace operations, and investigates the ways the international community has attempted to prevent and hold individuals accountable for SEA. It provides an assessment of the weaknesses in the existing WPS framework regarding SEA, particularly in terms of its engagement with masculinities, capital, and other permissive factors that make SEA such a central feature of peacekeeping operations.

WPS and Sustainable Development Goals

This chapter suggests that achieving sustainable development requires a change in the current economic system. Moreover, it advances the idea that an economic system based on the fulfillment of human rights and a peace and security agenda must consider what polices are needed to achieve sustainable peace, beyond the absence of war and violence. The chapter observes that in order to examine the issues surrounding women, peace, and security it is critical to unpack the relationship between existing economic policy and violent conflicts, and to consider how women are disproportionately affected at this intersection. If the fulfillment of human rights was at the center of economic policymaking, the chapter argues, the way in which the state gets and distributes resources would be very different.

Women in Rebellion

A key objective for the women, peace, and security agenda going forward is to disaggregate the experiences of women as a group, and to understand how gender functions in conflict contexts. This chapter focuses on the diverse roles of female combatants in rebel groups to gain insight into how power is distributed, not only between men and women, or combatants and civilians, but within groups. Rebel groups are characterized by military and political apparatuses that are built side by side and often entangled. Organizational power structures are often dominated by men, but not exclusively so. Using interviews and archival data from the Sierra Leone Civil War case study, this chapter delivers an analysis of women’s experiences in rebel movements. It explores the individual trajectories of mobilization and victimization in Sierra Leone. Next, it examines the unique experiences of female combatants, before situating them in the broader political context. Finally, the chapter considers cases of sexual violence, intimate partnerships, conflict among women, and the political entrepreneurship of elite women to understand female participation in rebellion in its entirety.

Adoption of 1325 Resolution

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was not adopted in a vacuum, but rather can be read with a number of other programs within the Security Council (SC) and UN architecture. These include other thematic resolutions, as well as broader policy initiatives. Taken together, these diverse strands sought to shift the understanding of the SC’s role in the maintenance of international peace and security, away from a classic state-oriented approach to one that places people at its center. The adoption of Resolution 1325, along with these other developments, had implications for the making of international law (the place of civil society and experts within the international legal and institutional framework), for rethinking participation, and the meaning of security/protection. This chapter suggests that 2000 was a pivotal moment when a more human-oriented international law seemed a real possibility and before the turn back toward militarism and national security in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Scholarly Debates and Contested Meanings of WPS

This chapter sets out some of the critiques that have emerged over the past decade with respect to the WPS agenda. It examines the theoretical accounts that highlight the conceptual and institutional limitations of WPS, specifically the centrality of the victimhood and protection dialogues in the promotion of the agenda. Moreover, this chapter examines the geographies where WPS has purchase, as well as the locations where it struggles to gain meaningful support. This chapter also explores the contributions of feminist institutionalism to the theory and practice of WPS. In doing so, it reveals a more nuanced understanding of the success and failure of WPS. We point to the importance of a layered understanding of how institutional actors advance this agenda or pose sizeable barriers to its success. Our analysis reveals that the limits of its practical success (or the complexity of the success that has been realized) underscore some of the broader conceptual and historical analysis.

The WPS Agenda and Strategy for the Twenty-First Century

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 recognized the critical roles women can and must play in advancing international peace and security. The WPS agenda, however, has focused largely on the protection of women in conflict, in particular from sexual and gender-based violence. In doing so, the substantive participation of women in peace and security remains significantly underexplored. This chapter suggests that the lack of progress on the WPS agenda is due to the perception that it is a women’s agenda, as opposed to one that seeks to advance gender equality and security. Moreover, this chapter reveals the challenges associated with the disparate nature of the WPS and security communities. In response, this chapter suggests that for the WPS agenda to advance, the community needs to emphasize that this is not only a women’s agenda. Specifically, the dialogue needs to be reframed to acknowledge that a focus on women is necessary, but not sufficient.