A Global South State's Challenge to Gendered Global Cultures of Peacekeeping

Citation:

Pruitt, Lesley J. 2018. "A Global South State’s Challenge to Gendered Global Cultures of Peacekeeping." In Revisiting Gendered States: Feminist Imaginings of the State in International Relations, edited by Swati Parashar, J. Ann Tickner, and Jacqui True, 122-137. New York: Oxford University Press.

Author: Lesley J. Pruitt

Abstract:

This chapter explores the first all-female formed police unit (FFPU) in UN peacekeeping, deployed from India to Liberia. The FFPU has fostered important outcomes supporting the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. However, global norms that presume efforts can only be “legitimate” when conducted in ways that align with particular, Global North approaches can hinder implementation of the WPS agenda. Such norms marginalize differences that intersect with gender and influence participation. Effective implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the WPS agenda will not occur under assumptions that only some states, or only certain kinds of states, can credibly contribute; instead, a plurality of approaches is needed.

Keywords: peacekeeping, United Nations, policing, women, India, Liberia, WPS

Topics: Gender, Women, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Africa, West Africa, Asia, South Asia Countries: India, Liberia

Year: 2018