Capitalising on UNSCR 1325: The Construction of Best Practices for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

• Published in: Journal of intervention and statebuilding Vol. 16; no. 2; pp. 123 - 141
• Main Authors: Lyytikäinen, Minna, Yadav, Punam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 15-03-2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: best practice; Bourdieu; Bourdieu, Pierre (1930-2002); Credibility; Foreign policy; Gender; international; local; National security; Nepal; policy; Security; Social capital
• ISSN: 1750-2977; 1750-2985
• DOI: 10.1080/17502977.2021.1913566

This article explores a narrative of peacebuilding best practice: the national efforts to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Nepal. We demonstrate how the contested realities of post-conflict gender politics are skilfully transformed into internationally transferable policy knowledge. We argue that in order to construct a peacebuilding best practice, policy entrepreneurs draw on their social capital to make claims about policy as simultaneously local and context-specific as well as global and universally applicable. The credibility of the claims is based on the extent to which they can be presented to international policy audiences in formats suitable for their consumption.