Governing feminist peace: the vitality and failure of the women, peace and security agenda
By Paul Kirby and Laura J. Shepherd
Columbia University Press, 2024
Governing feminist peace presents new and thought-provoking arguments that take research on women, peace and security (WPS) in new and exciting directions. The authors’ extensive expertise, honed over years of study, is evident in the wealth of detail provided throughout their first co-authored monograph, offering a credible and well-founded analysis of the FPS program.
Kirby and Shepherd argue that over the past two decades, WPS has often been wrongly reduced to a state discourse or technical apparatus, neglecting the relational and multifaceted nature of the agenda. This reductionist tendency is common in international relations (IR), particularly in positivist approaches. In contrast, drawing on critical IR, theories of governance, the politics of emotions, and feminist and postcolonial thought, the authors aim not to simplify but to encompass the complexity of WPS. They engage with the agenda by “seeking not to explain but to implicate” (p. 26), recognizing their position within the broader WPS community.
The book makes five significant contributions to WPS scholarship. First, it reimagines WPS as a “policy ecosystem” of interconnected actors, activities, and artifacts, highlighting the relational multiplicity of the agenda. Second, it reframes vitality and failure not as binary categories but as inherent to the FPS, an “archipelago in the midst of a constant storm” (p. 55). Third, it recognizes the tensions, fractures and contradictions intrinsic to any feminist peace project. Fourth, it argues for a more nuanced understanding of FPS, moving beyond a one-dimensional view. Finally, to navigate this complexity, the authors employ an exciting technique called “bricolage” (Särmä, 2015), bringing together existing and new descriptions, ideas and practices, which they suggest should be used more in IR research. .
The book is structured into eight chapters. The first three chapters lay the foundation for the more analytical sections that follow. The authors provide an overview of the literature on FPS, introduce the concept of a policy ecosystem based on relational and coexistence dimensions and a holistic approach, and make the case for moving beyond the idea of FPS as than normative regime. The quantitative analysis in chapter three maps the WPS ecosystem through a massive review of 237 policy documents (33 UN system documents, 161 NAPs and 43 WPS documents published by international and regional organizations), laying the foundation for the subsequent analysis.
Chapter four delves into the historiography of the ten WPS resolutions using interviews with practitioners to explore how these resolutions evolved and uncover their political significance. Using the metaphors of the series, the duel and the theater, and while emphasizing the main role that the UN played and had in the development of the WPS agenda, the authors highlight the dynamics, entanglements and the relationships established between a range of actors in different fields. places during the formal process of structuring the agenda, which cannot be reduced to the work of networks concentrated solely within the United Nations. Chapter five shifts the focus to states and their role in “gender ownership”, challenging the traditional view that the publication of a national action plan (NAP) is automatically a sign of success. The authors argue for a more contextual approach, paying particular attention to the intersection of indigeneity, race and nation in the NAPs of colonial states and criticizing the essentialization of indigenous perspectives.
Chapter six examines the role of civil society in the FPS ecosystem, highlighting the divides and tensions inherent in the program. The authors compare institutions like NATO, which views gender inclusion as both ethical and pragmatic (as brilliantly researched by Von Hlatky, 2022), with groups like the Women’s International Peace League and Freedom (WILPF), who must navigate their abolitionist roots in the FPS. discussions. This chapter reinforces the idea that the contradictions of the WPS agenda are essential to its vitality, once again highlighting the quixotic nature of the agenda. In the final analytical chapter, the authors explore the margins of the FPS ecosystem, where new alliances are forming across policy domains. They examine the overlap between WPS and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), as well as the intersection of WPS with arms control and disarmament, showing how cross-pollination crossing these boundaries can generate both “new sources” as well as “dead ends” (p.203) in the ecosystem.
Kirby and Shepherd summarize the book’s main arguments in the final chapter and highlight six critical tensions within the WPS ecosystem. These tensions – between gender as a concept, vulnerability and agency, hegemony and multiplicity, inclusion and abolition, hierarchies of issues and the ongoing struggle between peace and security – reflect the challenges more broad issues facing feminist peace projects, particularly feminist foreign policy projects that have emerged over the past decade and have been discussed several times by the authors of the book.
Overall, Governing the Feminist Peace offers a nuanced and insightful exploration of the WPS agenda. Its critical approach, drawing on diverse disciplines including international relations, theories of governance, politics of emotions, and feminist and postcolonial thought, makes it an essential resource for researchers and practitioners. It offers valuable new perspectives on the vitality and complexity of the WPS agenda and engages the reader on a stimulating intellectual journey through innovative research methods in the IR discipline.
There are, however, areas in which the book could have gone further. A notable limitation is the lack of accessibility to a broader audience, particularly those less familiar with the technical aspects of WPS scholarship or critical IR theory. The book assumes a high level of pre-existing knowledge, which could exclude scholars and practitioners new to the field or those without extensive knowledge of feminist or postcolonial theory. For non-experts, some sections can be difficult to follow and the language sometimes tends to be too academic. This could limit the book’s impact, particularly by making its ideas more widely applicable beyond the academic sphere.
Additionally, while the book excels at highlighting the internal fractures and tensions within the FPS ecosystem, it offers fewer concrete strategies for practitioners or policymakers aimed at overcoming these contradictions. Given its focus on policy ecosystems, the book could have included more practical ideas or recommendations for those working in the field to address the tensions between feminist ideals and institutional constraints. For example, a deeper exploration of how feminist actors could pragmatically balance the competing demands of the WPS agenda could have added more concrete value for civil society and government organizations.
Finally, although the book addresses issues and intersections of the history of indigeneity, race, and colonization very well, drawing on postcolonial and critical theories, I would argue that it would have benefited from ‘fuller engagement with non-Western perspectives on the issue. WPS and with additional analysis of case studies from the South. To provide a more comprehensive and diverse understanding of the WPS agenda, the book could have included more case studies and perspectives from the South in chapters other than the fifth on gender mainstreaming. A broader inclusion of voices from these contexts would deepen the book’s assertions about the relational multiplicity of WPS and provide a more diverse understanding of the agenda’s global challenges and opportunities.
References
Särmä, S. (2015), “Collage: an art-inspired methodology for studying laughter in global politics”, in Popular culture and global politics: theories, methods, pedagogiesed. F. Caso & C. Hamilton, Bristol, United Kingdom: International Electronic Relations
von Hlatky, S. (2022) Deploying Feminism: The Role of Gender in NATO Military OperationsOxford: Oxford University Press.
Further reading on international electronic relations