This paper offers an examination of citizenship in the context of post-conflict transformation as an important scenario in which to investigate the possibilities for the inclusion of women and women's demands in the transition to peace. Drawing on interview and ethnographic data collected in Northern Ireland and BosniaHerzegovina, the paper highlights a site of tension between the aspirations for transformation and inclusion set out internationally in UNSCR 1325 and the gender underpinnings of consociationalism that shape the broader political, social and cultural context of citizenship in these case studies. It illustrates that women and women's claims are repeatedly side-lined in favour of matters that are deemed of more vital interest in the quest for 'peace', such as relations between ethno-national groups, security concerns and stability of institutions. Despite this damning failure, women and feminist activists continue to mobilise, as individuals and collectively, in order to make demands for social, political and cultural transformation. The paper argues that attending to these dynamics is crucial if we strive to transform the gender regimes underpinning war/peace and acknowledge women as agents in this process.
Existing studies of European Union Common Security and Defence Policy (EU CSDP) 1 missions often rely on a conceptualisation of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) implementation as a technical, linear and deterministic process. While this scholarship is part of a concerted effort to develop an accountability mechanism and push for organizational change, this paper contends that we also need a more grounded and contextual approach to capture the complex, ambivalent and often tortuous translation of WPS into CSDP relatively new security practices. This suggests that a deeper interrogation of what meaning(s) mainstreaming gender assumes in the context of EU CSDP missions and how this conceptualisation informs the practice of peacekeeping is required. Drawing on interviews with EU peacekeeping personnel we outline an ambivalent account of how different CSDP actors interpret WPS and gender mainstreaming and compose it in use, with different effects.
This paper revisits the gendered implications of the Dayton peace settlement and assesses possibilities for the meaningful integration of the Women, Peace and Security agenda into the consociational structures and post-conflict political agenda. The context of Bosnia-Herzegovina illustrates longstanding gendered ramifications as a by-product of consociationalism, reaching beyond the rhetorical commitment to women's political representation and gender equality. The paper outlines how the reification and legitimisation of ethnonationalist power over two decades of Dayton has increasingly restricted the terrain for gender activism. A critical assessment of the post-Dayton governance reveals an unanticipated stratification of the agreement. Coupled with international pressure for the stability of the peace settlement, this outcome adds further constraints to the complex task of addressing the gendered legacy of conflict and conflict transformation. In this context, various local/international efforts to navigate Dayton's afterlives through gender activism act as a powerful reminder that the Bosnia-Herzegovina's unfulfilled peace must remain a priority in research, activist and policymaking agendas.
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