Gender, Peace, and Power-Sharing

Gender, Peace, and Power-Sharing examines the rise of two powerful norms in international conflict resolution and post-conflict governance: power-sharing as a model of ethnic inclusion, and the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda, which calls for greater representation of women and gender perspectives. This book raises questions about the theoretical, discursive, and institutional space for gendering power-sharing: Given that power-sharing approaches overlook or otherwise exclude gender considerations, does it mean power-sharing is necessarily ‘bad for women’? After 25 years of implementation, has the WPS agenda made a difference for women’s inclusion in peace processes and post-conflict political institutions? To what extent can power-sharing practices and the WPS agenda work constructively together to produce more inclusive, equitable, and robust modes of conflict resolution and democratic governance in divided and/or war-torn societies? Through a feminist "alternative telling," this book captures both the tensions and transformative potential of these frameworks in shaping contemporary conflict resolution and post-conflict peacebuilding practices.