SOC 488ITopics: Women,Peace & Security

Both women and men are subject to violence and suffer from the collapse of economy and institutions. Nevertheless, conditions and consequences of war and violent conflict differ between them. Acknowledging these differences, the agenda of ‘women, peace and security’ is an agenda formulated at global level after pressure from women’s movements. In this course we’ll discuss the different theoretical and political and practical approaches that form the backdrop of current debates and initiatives related to this agenda. We will go further into depth with these approaches and with the agenda as a field of action involving global, national and local actors, not least women’s organizations and other NGOs. What we will learn: This course is at the intersection between international relations, peace studies, security studies, human rights and gender studies. The course will:  Explore the mainstream theories on security, the feminist perspectives on security, as well as feminist theorizing about international politics.  Examine the gender dimensions of violence in the private and public spheres, both in wartime and “peacetime,” and both by state and non-state agents.  Analyze the ways in which a conflict is gendered in each of its phases, and what the implications are in terms of security and the building of peace.  Address specific issues such as gender-based crimes, the militarization of women, national identities, and gender in conflict zones.  Examine -also- the international context and the evolution of peacebuilding policies since the mid-1990s. In this respect, we will analyze the United Nations responses to the violation of women’s human rights (Resolution 1325), as well as the violations of women’s human rights by the UN themselves.  Explore the feminist approaches to peacebuilding (including the origins of the “ethics of care”), the emergence and the meaning of women’s peace movements worldwide, as well as other marginalized peace activists.