Feminism in International Security Discourses

In light of the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) resolution 1325 on women, peace and
security (WPS), this thesis contributes to understanding the
current discursive role of feminism in international security
discourses. In a qualitative content analysis of the 8649th
meeting of the UNSC on WPS, I analyse how women’s/equal
participation in peace and security is discursively presented
and reproduced. This happens through three main rationales
which lay the ground for diverse sub-arguments, namely:
rights-based, instrumentalist, and transformative arguments.
Concerned by a strong dominance of instrumentalist
arguments in the WPS discourse, I pledge for a discursive
shift towards a rights-based and transformative thinking of
women’s/equal participation in peace and security.

Keywords: Feminist Theory, Peace and Security, WPS,
Participation, Discourse Analysis