Global Gender Policy: Studying Security, Peace, and Armed Conflict - 360

This course introduces students to gender equality policy in the field of security, peacekeeping, and armed conflict by taking the UN Women, Peace, and Security Agenda (WPS) as a starting point and case study to explore broader conceptual and empirical issues around the struggle for gender equality in the field of security, as well as to deepen students’ understanding of different meanings of gender, approaches to gender research, and levels of gender analysis, building on and advancing their knowledge on gender and (international) politics. WPS is one of the most comprehensive global gender equality frameworks that exist today. It builds on the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and nine consecutive resolutions to advance the integration of gender concerns into global security governance and national and international security policies and practices. This includes peacekeeping, post-conflict reconstruction, peace negotiations, security sector reform, military integration, and the prevention of gender-based violence in armed conflict. The WPS agenda is considered a ground-breaking milestone in that it not only promises the protection of women in conflict, but also recognizes women’s and men’s different experiences in the pre- and post-conflict period and ensures women’s equal participation and engagement in peace processes. As an example of successful feminist norm diffusion, the agenda has also spread beyond the UN system, e.g., to NATO, the EU, and other regional organizations. Yet, implementation through state-level National Action Plans (NAPs) remains lacking and armed conflicts, such as in Colombia, Syria, or Ukraine, highlight how the protection of women as well as their participation in conflict resolution is inadequate. The agenda has also been criticized for a stereotypical focus on women as victims and colonial patterns of racialization and Othering. This course explores the successes and failures of WPS from multiple angles, scrutinizing relevant actors, institutions, policies, practices, and discourses. It will deepen students’ knowledge of global gender relations and policy frameworks as well as sharpen their analytical skills in utilizing different concepts of gender and conducting gender analysis at different levels of political processes and institutions.