Norm appropriation through policy production: Rwanda’s gender policies

Abstract

This article contributes to current debates on the role and agency of actors on the receiving end in norm diffusion processes, and explores the role of the Government of Rwanda in appropriating gender equality norms through policy production. It considers policy production as a central meaning-making activity in norm diffusion and applies a definition of appropriation as a discursive mechanism through which meaning is negotiated and constituted. Through an analysis of national policy documents on gender equality, it finds that appropriation occurs when the meaning of gender equality is altered to serve as a central feature in the construction of a ‘new’ Rwandan identity.

Keywords:

• Appropriation
• gender
• norm diffusion
• policy analysis
• Rwanda

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following persons for their comments and assistance in the writing of this article throughout its various stages of evolution: Tobias Berger, Annika Björkdahl, Anke Draude, Thomas Risse, Inger Skjelsbæk, and Susanne Zwingel. A special thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and suggestions. All errors are, of course, my own.

Notes

1. Finnermore and Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics,” 891.

2. See Zwingel, “How do Norms Travel?”.

3. Van Kersbergen and Verbeek, “Politics of International Norms”; Wiener, “Contested Compliance”; and Krook and True, “Rethinking the Life Cycles”.

4. See Berger, Global Norms; Björkdahl and Gusic, “‘Global’ Norms ‘Local’ Agency”; Groß, “From Global to Local”; Groβklaus, “Appropriation”; and Lake et al., “Gendering Justice”.

5. Bacchi, Analysing Policy, 32.

6. Bacchi, Analysing Policy.

7. See note 5.

8. Bacchi, Analysing Policy, 35.

9. Bacchi, Analysing Policy, 16.

10. Bacchi, Analysing Policy, 34.

11. Rep. of Rwanda, National Gender Policy, 7.

12. Finnemore, “International Organizations as Teachers”; Finnemore and Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics”; and Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders.

13. Bacchi, Analysing Policy, 33.

14. Tripp, Women and Power; and Berry, “When ‘Bright Futures’ Fade,” 8.

15. Tripp, Women and Power; Hughes and Tripp, “Civil War”; Mageza-Barthel, Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics; Freedman, Gender, Violence and Politics; and Berry, “When ‘Bright Futures’ Fade”.

16. Tripp, Women and Power; and Hughes and Tripp, “Civil War”.

17. Mageza-Barthel, Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics.

18. Berry and Lake, “Gender Politics after WAR,” 343; and Berry, “When ‘Bright Futures’ Fade”.

19. Lake et al. “Gendering Justice”; and Bronéus, “Women and Peace Hypothesis”.

20. Berry, “When ‘Bright Futures’ Fade”; Berry and Lake, “Gender Politics after War”; Longman, “Rwanda: Achieving Equality”; Mann and Berry, “Understanding Political Motivations”; and Reyntjens, “Constructing the Truth”.

21. Finnemore, “International Organizations as Teachers”; and Finnemore and Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics”.

22. Finnemore and Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics”; Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders; and Risse et al. Power of Human Rights.

23. Risse et al. Power of Human Rights.

24. Acharya, “How Ideas Spread”; Berger, Global Norms; Groβklaus, “Appropriation”; Levitt and Merry, “Vernacularization on the Ground”; and Zwingel, “How do Norms Travel?”.

25. Berger, Global Norms; Björkdahl and Gusic, “‘Global’ Norms ‘Local’ Agency”; Groß, “From global to Local”; Groβklaus, “Appropriation”; and Lake et al. “Gendering Justice”.

26. Van Kersbergen and Verbeek, “Politics of International Norms”; Wiener, “Contested Compliance”; and Krook and True, “Rethinking the Life Cycles,” 104.

27. Wiener, “Contested Compliance,” 191.

28. Wiener, “Contested Compliance,” 192.

29. Krook and True, “Rethinking the Life Cycles,” 105.

30. Van Kersbergen and Verbeek, “Politics of International Norms”; Wiener, “Contested Compliance”; and Krook and True, “Rethinking the Life Cycles”.

31. Pereira, “Appropriating ‘Gender’ and ‘Empowerment’,” 44.

32. Berger, Global Norms; and Lake et al. “Gendering Justice”.

33. Groβklaus, “Appropriation,” 1253–1255.

34. Groβklaus, “Appropriation,” 1254.

35. Pereira, “Appropriating ‘Gender’ and ‘Empowerment’,” 44–45.

36. Des Forges, Leave None to Tell; and Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis. Estimates of how many died in the genocide vary and are highly contested, but most sources place the number somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million.

37. Baines, “Body Politics,” 481; and Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers.

38. Newbury and Baldwin, “Confronting the Aftermath”; and Longman, “Rwanda: Achieving Equality”.

39. Mageza-Barthel, “Asserting Their Presence!” 174; and Burnet, “Gender Balance,” 376–378.

40. Longman, “Rwanda: Achieving Equality”; Burnet, “Gender Balance”; and Debusscher and Ansoms, “Gender Equality Policies in Rwanda”.

41. Longman, “Rwanda: Achieving Equality,” 139; and Burnet, “Gender Balance,” 375.

42. Bauer and Burnet, “Gender Quotas,” 108.

43. Berry, “When ‘Bright Futures’ Fade,” 15–17.

44. See Longman, “Rwanda: Achieving Equality”; Reyntjens, “Constructing the Truth”; Burnet, “Gender Balance”; Burnet, “Women Have Found Respect”; Debusscher and Ansoms, “Gender Equality Policies in Rwanda”; and Bauer and Burnet, “Gender Quotas”.

45. Berry and Lake, “Gender Politics after War,” 343.

46. Berry and Lake, “Gender Politics after War,”; and Mann and Berry, “Understanding Political Motivations”.

47. Rep. of Rwanda, National Gender Policy, 19.

48. Rep. of Rwanda, Gender Monitoring Office, 27.

49. Rep. of Rwanda, National Policy Against GBV, 6.

50. Rep. of Rwanda, National Gender Policy, 21.

51. Rep. of Rwanda, National Gender Policy, 15.

52. Rep. of Rwanda, Gender Monitoring Office, 22.

53. Carella and Ackerly, “Ignoring Rights is Wrong”.

54. Rep. of Rwanda, National Gender Policy, 18.

55. See note 50.

56. Carella and Ackerly, “Ignoring Rights is Wrong,” 3.

57. Rep. of Rwanda, Gender Monitoring Office, 15.

58. See note 54.

59. Rep. of Rwanda, National Gender Policy, 9.

60. See note 54.

61. Rep. of Rwanda, Gender Monitoring Office, 18.

62. See note 54.

63. Rep. of Rwanda, Gender Monitoring Office, 19.

64. Rep. of Rwanda, National Policy against GBV, 13.

65. Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements”.

66. Cf. Carella and Ackerly, “Ignoring Rights is Wrong”.

67. Reyntjens, “Constructing the Truth,” 5.

68. Mageza-Barthel, Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics, 75.

69. Hasselskog et al., “National Ownership”.

70. Reyntjens, Political Governance; and Reyntjens, “Constructing the Truth”.

71. Burnet, “Gender Balance,” 365.

72. Baines, “Building Peace in Rwanda,” 228.

73. Mann and Berry, “Understanding Political Motivations,” 128–130.

74. Rep. of Rwanda, Vision 2020.

75. Mann and Berry, “Understanding Political Motivations,” 133–136.

76. Debusscher and Ansoms, “Gender Equality Policies in Rwanda”.