Peacekeeping

Citation:

Rosamond, Annika Bergman, and Annica Kronsell. 2018. "Cosmopolitan Militaries and Dialogic Peacekeeping: Danish and Swedish Women Soldiers in Afghanistan." International Feminist Journal of Politics 20 (2): 172-87.

Authors: Annika Bergman Rosamond, Annica Kronsell

Abstract:

Feminist security studies (FSS) scholarship advocates the analysis of women's war experiences and narratives to understand conflict and military intervention. Here we add a non-great power focus to FSS debates on the gendered discourses of military interventionism. We zoom in on Danish and Swedish women soldiers' reflections on their involvement in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan. Their stories are deconstructed against the backdrop of their states' adoption of a cosmopolitan-minded ethic on military obligation. Both states employed women soldiers in dialogic peacekeeping in Afghanistan to establish links with local women and to gather intelligence, tasks that we less frequently afforded to male soldiers. However, feminist FSS scholarship locates military intelligence gathering within racial, gendered and imperialist power relations that assign victimhood to local women. This feminist critique is pertinent, but the gendered and racial logics governing international operations vary across national contexts. While such gender binaries were present in Danish and Swedish military practice in Afghanistan, our article shows that dialogic peacekeeping offered an alternative to stereotypical constructions of women as victims and men as protectors. Dialogic peacekeeping helped to disrupt such gendering processes, giving women soldiers an opportunity to rethink their gender identities while instilling dialogical relations with local women. 

Keywords: feminist security studies, cosmopolitanism, dialogic peacekeeping, women soldiers, non-great powers, Narratives

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Discourses, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peacekeeping, Security Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Afghanistan, Denmark, Sweden

Year: 2018

Citation:

Alchin, Angela, Amanda Gouws, and Lindy Heinecken. 2018. "Making a Difference in Peacekeeping Operations: Voices of South African Women Peacekeepers." African Security Review 27 (1): 1-19.

Authors: Angela Alchin, Amanda Gouws, Lindy Heinecken

Abstract:

Recruiting more women into peacekeeping operations due to the perceived unique contributions they are said to make missions has been widely advocated by the United Nations (UN) and other agencies as a means to overcome the unintended consequents of deployments - mainly the ongoing reports of sexual abuse of locals by male soldiers. However, taking into account the broader gender debates surrounding women's contributions to peacekeeping, and by considering the experiences of women in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the study reveals the challenges women face in realising these widely advocated contributions. These challenges include the current recruiting processes, the self-perception of female soldiers, the deeply patriarchal ideologies within South African society, and the hyper-masculine culture which overwhelms the military. The study concludes that, for women to be properly utilised, a reassment of recruitment processes in the SANDF is necessary, gender training should be prioritised, and an androgynous soldier identity should be advocated. 

Keywords: feminism, peacekeepers, peacekeeping, female peacekeepers, security studies, SANDF, South African peacekeepers, UN peacekeeping

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, International Organizations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peacekeeping, Peace and Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2018

Citation:

Holohan, Anne, Justyna Pyz, and Kamila Trochowska. 2018. "Gaming for Peace: Gender Awareness Training and the Polish Military." Security and Defence Quarterly 21 (4): 41-57.

Author: Anne Holohan, Justyna Pyz, Kamila Trochoswka

Abstract:

Despite regulatory and legal changes, women are persistently underrepresented in military organisations on peacekeeping missions. This article argues that part of the reason for this can be found in persistent stereotypical ideas about gender roles, and looks at the attitudes and experience of Polish military personnel who have been deployed on peacekeeping missions as evidence of this. However, witnessing other militaries stance on gender, where such stereotypes are still there, but not as entrenched, can cause personnel to contextualise if not question their own organisation’s stance on gender. Sixteen Polish military peacekeepers were interviewed in-depth about their experiences on peacekeeping missions as part of a European H2020 project, Gaming for Peace (GAP). The interviews were used to build scenarios for a digital role-playing game to develop soft skills among peacekeeping personnel, and these soft skills included gender awareness. This article analyses the interviews to explore the experience of gender for both men and women in the Polish military, and shows that there is an urgent need for the type of training in gender awareness that is part of GAP.

Keywords: peacekeeping, pre-deployment training, women, gender awareness, stereotypes

Topics: Gender, Gender Roles, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peacekeeping, Peace and Security Regions: Europe, Central Europe Countries: Poland

Year: 2018

Citation:

Bastick, Megan, and Claire Duncanson. 2018. "Agents of Change? Gender Advisors in NATO Militaries." International Peacekeeping 25 (4): 554-77.

Authors: Megan Bastick, Claire Duncanson

Abstract:

This paper is about the experiences of Gender Advisors in NATO and partner militaries, and the question of whether militaries can contribute to a feminist vision of peace and security. Gender Advisors are increasingly being adopted as a mechanism to help militaries to implement commitments under the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Based on semi-structured interviews and a workshop with individuals working as Military Gender Advisors from 2009 to 2016 in Afghanistan, Kosovo and in NATO and national military commands and headquarters, this paper explores their own perceptions of their work, its goals, shortcomings and achievements. It highlights Military Gender Advisors’ strong commitment to Women, Peace and Security aims, but the resistance their work faces within their institutions, and challenges of inadequate resourcing, preparation and contextual knowledge. Military Gender Advisors’ experiences paint a picture of NATO and partner Militaries having in some places made progress in protection and empowerment of local women, but fragile and partial. These findings speak to wider debates within feminist security studies around whether and how militaries achieve human security in peacekeeping operations, and the risks of militarization of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Peacekeeping, Peace and Security, Security, Human Security Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Afghanistan, Kosovo

Year: 2018

Citation:

Chisholm, Amanda. 2018. “Perspectives on Private Security: The Myth, the Men and the Markets.” In Handbook on the International Political Economy of Gender, edited by Juanita Elias and Adrienne Roberts, 196-210. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Author: Amanda Chisholm

Annotation:

Topics: Economies, Feminisms, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Private Military & Security, Militaries, Peacekeeping, Political Economies, Security

Year: 2018

Citation:

Bongiovi, Joseph R., and Lisa Leitz. 2019. “Gendered Companies, Gendered Security.” In The Sociology of Privatized Security, edited by Ori Swed and Thomas Crosbie, 173-216. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Authors: Joseph R. Bongiovi, Lisa Leitz

Abstract:

Using archival, interview, and industry observation data, this chapter examines how the private military and security company (PMSC) industry uses gender as a claim to legitimacy. However, our findings suggest that this growing industry still has areas for improvement before being a positive force for gender mainstreaming. As this industry grew, so did concerns about its handling of gender issues. A series of high-profile scandals has contrasted with international efforts to both protect and involve women in peacekeeping operations. The industry developed its own regulatory organizations and put a number of checks in place to bring PMSC firms into compliance with international norms. These include involving women in peace processes and ensuring gender equality in military and security work. However, the lack of attention to gender in industry guidelines and organizations demonstrates the ongoing gap between aspirations and achievement. As international norms move toward gender mainstreaming, so does the pressure to demonstrate that they can effectively reflect those expectations. While high-level changes have occurred, it is less clear how much substantive and measurable change has occurred within the industry. (Abstract from SpringerLink)

Topics: Gender, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Private Military & Security, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes

Year: 2019

Citation:

Otto, Dianne. 2018. “Women, Peace and Security: A Critical Analysis of the Security Council’s Vision.” In Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict, edited by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Naomi Cahn, Dina Francesca Hayes, and Nahla Valji. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Author: Dianne Otto

Abstract:

This chapter historicizes the United Nations Security Council’s Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. It opens by describing the vision of peace emerging out of the Hague Congress of Women, wherein a pacifist agenda perceived resorting to arms to resolve inter-state disputes as unacceptable. It analyzes this vision in the context of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, and argues that the Security Council fails in protecting women from conflict-related harm. It demonstrates how feminist conceptions of positive peace have become captive to the militarized security frame of the Security Council. The chapter concludes with suggestions for how peace needs to be reconceptualized to strengthen the feminist opposition to war and to fight protective stereotypes of women.

Keywords: pacifism, Women Peace and Security agenda, Hague Congress of Women, United Nations, security council, positive peace

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Peace and Security, International Organizations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, Security, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS

Year: 2018

Citation:

Moncrief, Stephen. 2017. “Military Socialization, Disciplinary Culture, and Sexual Violence in UN Peacekeeping Operations.” Journal of Peace Research 54 (5): 715-30.

Author: Stephen Moncrief

Abstract:

The sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of civilians by international peacekeepers is a form of post-conflict violence that is pernicious and understudied, but far from inevitable. However, there are very few cross-mission analyses of the phenomenon. This article considers whether the socialization experiences of troops in two environments, the contributing state military and the peacekeeping mission itself, help to explain the observed variation in SEA. Drawing on a dataset of SEA allegations between 2007 and 2014, as well as the first publicly available data from the United Nations that identify the nationalities of alleged perpetrators, this article analyzes the layered nature of socialization through the lens of SEA. Specifically, this article presents evidence that SEA is positively associated with disciplinary breakdowns at the peacekeeping mission’s lower levels of command, and argues that a peacekeeping mission may carry its own norms and socializing processes that either constrain or facilitate the emergence and endurance of SEA.

Keywords: peacekeeping, sexual violence, Socialization

Topics: International Organizations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Violence

Year: 2017

Citation:

Karim, Sabrina. 2017. “Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness: Does Gender Neutrality Inhibit Progress?” International Interactions 43 (5): 822–47.

Author: Sabrina Karim

Abstract:

Since the adoption of UNSCR 1325, more female peacekeepers are participating in peacekeeping missions than ever before. Nevertheless, the current literature on peacekeeping effectiveness is largely gender neutral, discounting the unique role female peacekeepers may play in peacekeeping operations. This article addresses this missing piece in the literature by assessing how female peacekeepers and locals view the role of women in peacekeeping operations. Using interviews and focus groups conducted with peacekeepers in the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and original surveys conducted in Liberian communities, it finds that there is an “access gap” that prevents female peacekeepers from fully contributing to the mission’s operations and therefore prevents the peacekeeping mission from reaching its full potential. The findings have broader implications for how to improve peacekeeping missions’ effectiveness moving forward.

Keywords: gender, Liberia, peacekeeping, UNMIL, UNSCR 1325

Topics: Gender, Women, Peace and Security, International Organizations, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2017

Citation:

Joachim, Jutta, Andrea Schneiker, and Anne Jenichen. 2017. "External Networks and Institutional Idiosyncrasies: the Common Security and Defense Policy and UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security." Cambridge Review of International Affairs 30 (1): 105-24.

Authors: Jutta Joachim, Andrea Schneiker, Anne Jenichen

Abstract:

In 2008, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted a ‘Comprehensive Approach’ that outlines a strategy for securing gender mainstreaming; two years later, the Council introduced a set of indicators to assess its implementation. The EU was responding to the United Nations Security Council’s call for regional institutions to assist in implementing Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, adopted on 31 October 2000, concerning ‘women, peace and security’. This resolution sought to meet the ‘urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations’. Considering that prior exposure to gender issues, resources and well-established relations with civil society and gender advocates are lacking, the adoption of both the Comprehensive Approach and the indicators, as well as the structures and procedures established since then as part of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, requires some explanation. This article draws on feminist institutionalist approaches to argue that the impetus for change came from individuals and groups within the EU who were involved in external networks, both above and below the supranational level, who seized on institutional idiosyncrasies that also shaped the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in important ways.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Peace and Security, International Organizations, Peacekeeping, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Europe

Year: 2017