Dr Aiko Holvikivi

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Gender, Peace and Security. This course is available on the MSc in Conflict Studies, MSc in Gender, MSc in Gender (Sexuality), MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation, MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities, MSc in Human Rights, MSc in Human Rights and Politics, MSc in Inequalities and Social Science, MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies and MSc in Media, Communication and Development. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Please note we will only have 30 places on this course, including those students on MSc Gender, Peace and Security.

This course provides a critical examination of gender, peace and security issues in conflict and postconflict contexts.  Specifically, the course focuses on the UN Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, which originated in Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) followed by a series of subsequent resolutions to date. The course covers the main pillars of the WPS agenda, namely participation; protection from gendered violence; the prevention of conflict and violence; and gendered approaches to relief and recovery in conflict and post-conflict settings. The course examines a range of issues through a gender and feminist lens. 

Topics include: the socio-legal context of the Women, Peace and Security agenda; the history of Women, Peace and Security laws and policies; definitions and scope of gender-based and sexual violence in conflict; combating impunity and addressing accountability; peace processes, peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance; and evaluation of a range of different critiques of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

This course runs in the Michaelmas Term. It contains both asynchronous and interactive teaching and learning elements.

Students will have a reading week in Week 6 in line with departmental policy. 

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the MT.

Basu, S., Kirby, P. & Shepherd, L.J. (eds) (2020) New Directions in Women, Peace and Security, Bristol University Press

Cohn, C. (ed.) (2013) Women and Wars, Polity Press 

Coomaraswamy, R. (ed.) (2015) Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace: Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, UN Women

Davies, S.E. & True, J. (eds) (2018) The Oxford Handbook of Women Peace and Security, Oxford University Press

Enloe, C. (2010), Nimo’s War, Emma’s War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War, University of California Press

Olonisakin, F., Barnes, K., & Ikpe, E. (eds) (2010) Women, Peace and Security: Translating Policy into Practice, Routledge

Otto, D. and Heathcote, G. (eds) (2014) Rethinking Peacekeeping, Gender Equality and Collective Security, Palgrave

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in the LT.

Summative assessment to be submitted in the first week of LT.

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.