Equal Peace? Womens Empowerment and Multicultural Challenges in War-to-Peace Transitions

Since 2000, we have seen an increased focus on the promotion of gender equality and women?s participation in peace and reconciliation efforts internationally and in Norway. The direct impetus for this change was the adoption in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (and the pursuant resolutions) which constitute what is known as the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS).This agenda is now seen as a new international norm pertaining to international peace and security. This project has examined how the WPS agenda, as a normative endeavor has unfolded. More specifically, the project has examined how some states and organization have taken upon them to be norm entrepreneurs promoting this agenda (Norway and the United Nations) and how certain countries have adapted to this norm (Bosnia, Rwanda and Mali). We have studied this normative development and dynamic by gathering interviews with central stakeholder, participant observations and fieldwork. Our findings suggest that advocating for pro-gender norms in the fields of foreign policy, development and security has become a competitive space for the Nordic countries and some other countries such as Canada, Australia and the UK. Further, the increase in violent extremism throughout the project period has made the role of women in transitional processes such as in the peace process Mali multidimensional; women?s participation in the peace process does not only increase the number of women in political decision making, but women are also thought to serve as prevention and resilience agents against violent extremism. These transitional processes impact all levels of social and political life; from micro to macro and the project shows how this is expressed in countries such as Bosnia, Rwanda, Mali, Norway and the United Nations system itself.

When the project started there were several aims; to contribute knowledge to national and international follow up linked to the WPS agenda and the MDS; to ensure that two MA students and one PhD student complete finalize theses linked to the WPS agenda; and, finally, to ensure that the PIs publish internationally and apply for professor promotion. The project researchers have participated and engaged with the UN as resource people throughout the project period (see project results); we have contributed substantially to the Norwegian Action Plans for 1325; we have established a center for Gender Peace and Security at PRIO and have created an international network with four other academic centers, focusing on the WPS agenda at esteemed international universities; two MA thesis have been completed and the PhD thesis will be completed in 2020; and finally, the project leader has become full professor in peace research at PRIO and in gender studies at the University of Oslo.

Getting from war to peace is a delicate endeavour. International interventions, mediation and dialogue efforts, as well as transitional justice mechanisms are all geared to building sustainable peace, avoiding relapse into new conflicts. These are not neutral processes, however, but embedded with particular agreed-upon norms and desires for peaceful co-existence. These normative frameworks are multicultural and multi-religious in their very essence in that they are thought to be beneficial to all irrespective of culture and religion. In reality, however, these norms may be seen quite differently. Gender equality and women?s empowerment are examples of such norms and are strongly contested areas of politics. It is particularly in the intersection between global/supranational aims and local or national religious and cultural characteristics where these tensions come out most forcefully. The proposed project does not aim to address the totality of challenges related to implementing gender equality and women's empowerment norms, but will have a limited focus on implementation challenges in transitional processes from war to peace. These transitions, difficult as they are, nevertheless open up socio-political spaces for redefining gender roles and expectations. At times these changes lead to increased gender equality, while at other times they lead to reinforced or new inequalities and gendered differentiation which can be ascribed religious and cultural characteristics. What these settings have in common, however, is international attention and often also direct involvement and the dynamic of this entrepreneurial relationship is often characterized by norm providers on the intervening side, and norm adapters on the conflict side. This project seeks to explore this dynamic through an empirical focus on United Nations and Norwegian peace mediation efforts, as examples of norm providers, and Bosnian and Rwandan experiences as examples of norm adapters.