Translating the Women, Peace and Security Agenda into EU Common Security and Defence Policy: Reflections from EU Peacebuilding

Abstract

Existing studies of European Union Common Security and Defence Policy (EU CSDP) 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 organisational 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.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the workshop on Gender and Security organised by the editors of Global Society at University of Kent. The authors appreciate the comments received there. The authors would like to thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for productive suggestions and helpful feedback. The authors thank the Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction and the School of Law and Government at DublinCity University (DCU) for hosting our project. Last but not least, thank you to all the contributors who shared their time and expertise with us and made this project possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

About the Authors

Maria-Adriana Deiana is an Assistant Professor in International Relations in the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland. Her research draws on feminist approaches to war and security. It focuses on gender dynamics of conflict and post-conflict transformation, the WPS agenda, EU border politics and peacekeeping.

Kenneth McDonagh is an Associate Professor of International Relations in the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland. His research examines EU security and defence policy with a focus on CSDP missions, gender and the everyday practices of peacebuilding and peacekeeping, and the inter-relationship of security and identity narratives from the individual to the global.

Notes

1. Roberta Guerrina and Katharine A.M. Wright, “Gendering Normative Power Europe: Lessons of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda”, International Affairs, Vol. 92, No. 2 (2016), pp. 293–312; Paul Kirby and Laura J. Shepherd, “The Futures Past of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda”, International Affairs, Vol. 92, No. 2 (2016), pp. 373–392; Louise Olsson and Karin Sundström, “European Union's Gender Policy for CSDP Missions: Contents and Gaps” (2013), available: ⟨https://fba.se/contentassets/8ed4b9c1a27c4c1dbc20d51172d6e83e/policy-review_eu-gender-policy-for-csdp.pdf⟩ (accessed 3 October 2016); and Maria Stern, “Gender and Race in the European Security Strategy: Europe as a ‘Force for Good’?”, Journal of International Relations and Development, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2011), pp. 28–59, doi: 10.1057/jird.2010.7.

2. The Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union evolved from a Franco-British Summit in St Malo in 1998. It has led to a series of initiatives aimed at developing the EU's capacity in the areas of security and defence, including peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions, defence procurement, and joint training and operations. For an overview of the CSDP see Mark Weber, Stuart Croft, Jolyon Howorth, Terry Terriff, and Elke Krahmann, “The Governance of European Security”, Review of International Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1 (2004), pp. 3–26, doi: 10.1017/S0260210504005807; and Maria Mälksoo. “From the ESS to the EU Global Strategy: External Policy, Internal Purpose”, Contemporary Security Policy, Vol. 37, No 3 (2016), pp. 374–388, doi: 10.1080/13523260.2016.1238245.

3. Council of the European Union, Comprehensive Approach to the EU Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security (2008), available: ⟨http://www.seesac.org/f/img/File/Res/Gender-and-Security-Resources/EU-implementaion-of-the-UNSC-resolutions-Women-639.pdf⟩ (accessed 15 January 2018).

4. Hanna L. Muehlenhoff, “Victims, Soldiers, Peacemakers and Caretakers: The Neo-liberal Constitution of Women in the EU's Security Policy”, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2017), p. 164.

5. See, for example, Nicole George and Laura J. Shepherd (eds.), Special Issue: Women, Peace and Security: In Regional, National and Local Contexts”, International Political Science Review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (2016), pp. 297–403.

6. See Annika Bjorkdahl and Johanna Mannergren Selimovic, “Translating UNSCR 1325 from the Global to the National: Protection, Representation and Participation in the National Action Plans of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda”, Conflict, Security and Development, Vol. 15, No. 4 (2015), pp. 311–335; and Muehlenhoff, op. cit., pp. 153–167.

7. For a bottom-up insight into how the WPS Agenda is implemented in a Balkan context see Laura McLeod, “Configurations of Post-Conflict: Impacts of Representations of Conflict and Post-Conflict upon the (Political) Translations of Gender Security within UNSCR 1325”, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 13, No. 4 (2011), pp. 594–611.

8. Guerrina and Wright, op. cit.; and Louise Olsson et al., “Gender, Peace and Security in the European Union's Field Missions” (2014), available: ⟨https://fba.se/contentassets/bcfe134c7ace454c964c1cf68f856474/fba_csdp_rapport_s5_web_141217.pdf⟩ (accessed 3 October 2016).

9. Helena Carreiras, “Women and Peace Operations”, in Managing Crises, Making Peace (London: Palgrave, 2015), 69–90, available: ⟨http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137442253_4⟩; Olsson et al., “Gender, Peace and Security”; and Karen Barnes, “Briefing Note: On Gender, Peace, Security and Development; What Can the EU Do?” (2011), available: ⟨https://epthinktank.eu/2014/02/11/women-peace-and-security/⟩ (accessed 3 October 2016).

10. Olsson et al., “Gender, Peace and Security”.

11. Guerrina and Wright, op cit. Developed by Alison Woodward, the term velvet triangles encapsulates constellations of key actors that explain the emergence and development of gender policy within the EU; see also Alison Woodward, “Building Velvet Triangles: Gender and Informal Governance”, in Thomas Christiansen and Simona Piattoni (eds.), Informal Governance and the European Union (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2003), pp. 76–93.

12. Katharine A.M. Wright, “NATO'S Adoption of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security: Making the Agenda a Reality”, International Political Science Review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (1 June 2016), pp. 350–361, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512116638763⟩; Joanna Valenius, “Gender Mainstreaming in ESDP Missions” (2007), available: ⟨http://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/detail/article/gender-mainstreaming-in-esdp-missions/⟩; Rebecca Adler-Nissen, “Towards a Practice Turn in EU Studies: The Everyday of European Integration”, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 54, No. 1 (1 January 2016), pp. 87–103, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12329⟩; Karine Côté-Boucher et al., “Border Security as Practice: An Agenda for Research”, Security Dialogue, Vol. 45, No. 3 (1 June 2014), pp. 195–208, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010614533243⟩; and Didier Bigo, “The (in)Securitization Practices of the Three Universes of EU Border Control: Military/Navy–Border Guards/Police–Database Analysts”, Security Dialogue, Vol. 45, No. 3 (1 June 2014), pp. 209–225, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010614530459⟩.

13. Emanuel Adler and Vincent Pouliot, “International Practices”, International Theory, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2011), p. 28.

14. Nina Graeger, “Grasping the Everyday and Extraordinary in EU–NATO Relations: The Added Value of Practice Approaches”, European Security, Vol. 26, No. 3 (2017), p. 350.

15. Adler-Nissen, op. cit., p. 97.

16. We found Sam Cook's piece particularly useful in thinking through the relationship between WPS meanings, narratives and practices. Sam Cook, “The ‘Woman-in-Conflict’ at the UN Security Council: A Subject of Practice”, International Affairs, Vol. 92, No. 2 (1 March 2016), pp. 353–372, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12553⟩.

17. Annick T.R. Wibben, Feminist Security Studies: A Narrative Approach (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 2.

18. Council of Europe, “Council of Europe, 2008, Comprehensive Approach on EU Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security” (2008), available: ⟨http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/hr/news187.pdf⟩ (accessed 9 May 2016).

19. Carreiras, op. cit.

20. The 15th anniversary of UNSCR1325 in 2015 sparked a renewed momentum in the international arena for gender, peace and security policies. In this context, a series of policy documents sought to reaffirm EU commitment to foreground gender and human rights in the context of development, democracy and more broadly in its external relations, see European Commission, 2015 Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016–2020, available: ⟨https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/joint-staff-working-document-gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment-transforming-lives-girls-and_en⟩ (accessed 9 May 2016). More specifically in July 2015 the Council presented a new Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for 2015–2019 that, among its proposals, includes a chapter on “Mainstreaming Human Rights into all Phases of CSDP Planning, Review and Conduct”. In the same month, the Council Conclusions also requested a baseline study on the incorporation of WPS into all aspects of the CSDP, which at the time of writing is yet to be published. The overall rationale for the new action plan and the baseline study is an effort to improve strategic implementation at all CSDP levels, reporting, and coordination among Member States, the EEAS and other relevant institutions such as the Commission or the Council. As these are recent developments at the time of writing, it is difficult to assess the full implications and impact of these new strategies.

21. Council of Europe, “Lessons and Best Practices of Mainstreaming Human Rights and Gender into CSDP Military Operations and Civilian Missions” (2010), p. 6, available: ⟨https://www.civcap.info/fileadmin/user_upload/Working_Group/CIVCOM_LessonsLearned.pdf⟩ (accessed 3 October 2016).

22. Maria-Adriana Deiana and Kenneth McDonagh, “‘It Is Important, But … ’: Translating the Women Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda into the Planning of EU Peacekeeping Missions”, Peacebuilding Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018), pp. 1–15.

23. For a concise review of these tensions see, for example, Cook, op. cit.

24. Sara Meger, “The Fetishization of Sexual Violence in International Security”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 1 (2016), pp. 149–159.

25. Deiana and McDonagh, op. cit.

26. Gezim Visoka and Grace Bolton, “The Complex Nature and Implications of International Engagement after Kosovo's Independence”, Civil Wars, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1 June 2011), pp. 189–214, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2011.576158⟩; and Andrew Radin, “Analysis of Current Events: ‘Towards the Rule of Law in Kosovo: EULEX Should Go’”, Nationalities Papers, Vol. 42, No. 2 (2014), pp. 181–194.

27. Radin, op. cit.

28. Ibid.

29. Email communication with EULEX gender advisor, 25 January 2017.

30. By WPS policy commitments here we refer specifically to the policy documents outlining EU commitment to implement WPS in its external action and CSDP mission, as discussed on pp. 6–7.

31. Confidential interview, EULEX, Prishtina, 22 July 2016.

32. “EULEX New Mandate—EULEX Press Releases—EULEX, Kosovo, European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EU, European Union, European Union External Action”, available: ⟨http://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/?page=2,10,437⟩ (accessed 30 June 2017). See also EULEX Press Releases, available: ⟨http://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/?page=2,10&ydate=2016⟩ (accessed 30 June 2017).

33. Confidential interview, CPCC, Brussels, 24 June 2016.

34. Personal interview with EULEX gender advisor, Prishtina, 21 July 2016.

35. Confidential interview, EULEX, Prishtina, 9 November 2016.

36. Confidential interview, EULEX, Prishtina, 22 July 2016.

37. Guerrina and Wright, op. cit.

38. Personal interview with EULEX gender advisor, Prishtina, 21 July 2016.

39. This of course also raises concerns about the sustainability of gender mainstreaming; that is, as to whether having one gender advisor per mission offers adequate resourcing.

40. Personal interview with EULEX gender advisor, Prishtina, 21 July 2016 (original emphasis).

41. Nina Graeger, “European Security as Practice: EU–NATO Communities of Practice in the Making?”, European Security, Vol. 25, No. 4 (2016), pp. 478–501.

42. Personal interview with EULEX gender advisor, Prishtina, 21 July 2016.

43. Deiana and McDonagh, op. cit., 8.

44. Ibid., p. 12.

45. Guerrina and Wright, op. cit.

46. These cases are dealt with by Kosovo police and reported to EULEX. EULEX keeps track of these cases and has the possibility to follow up with the KP if deemed necessary, for example if there are doubts that a case is properly dealt with. Personal email conversation with EULEX gender advisor, 25 January 2017.

47. The Gender TOT was developed in order to try to include a gender perspective into the mission's different training concepts. Personal email communication with EULEX gender advisor, 25 January 2017.

48. Personal email communication with EULEX international gender advisor, 25 January 2017.

49. Annica Kronsell, “The Power of EU Masculinities: A Feminist Contribution to European Integration Theory”, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 54, No. 1 (1 January 2016), pp. 104–20, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12328⟩.

50. Wright, op. cit.

51. Confidential interview, EUULEX, Prishtina, 9 November 2016.

52. Kronsell, op. cit.

53. Confidential interview, EULEX, Prishtina, 22 July 2016.

54. Confidential interview, EULEX, Prishtina, 11 November 2016.

55. Ibid.

56. Roland Paris, “The Geopolitics of Peace Operations: A Research Agenda”, International Peacekeeping, Vol. 21, No. 4 (8 August 2014), pp. 501–508, available: ⟨https://doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2014.946743⟩.

57. Bigo, op. cit.; and Côté-Boucher et al., op. cit.

58. Côté-Boucher et al., op. cit., p. 200.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Irish Research Council New Horizons Starter Grant Scheme #loveirishresearch [REPRO/2015/101].