BRICS countries and the construction of conflict in the Women, Peace and Security Open Debates. (10th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hamilton, Caitlin; Pagot, Rhaíssa; Shepherd, Laura J
• Is Part Of: International affairs. Volume 97:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 739
• Page End: 757
• Publication Date: 2021-05-10
• Subjects: WPS agenda -- BRICS -- geopolitics -- peace -- conflict; International relations -- Periodicals; World politics -- Periodicals; 327.05
• DOI: 10.1093/ia/iiab040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-5850

Abstract

Abstract: The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda is a diverse field of practice comprised of numerous actors, activities and artefacts. Conventional accounts of WPS development and implementation tend to reproduce a narrative that positions states located in the global North as 'providers' of WPS, and those in the South as 'recipients'. This assumption in turn prescribes, and proscribes, forms of WPS engagement and has a constitutive effect on the agenda itself, as shown by post- and de-colonial analyses of the WPS agenda. This article seeks to explore the WPS practices of a group of states that in many ways challenge these North/South and provider/recipient binaries by explicitly positioning themselves as operating beyond and across them: the BRICS countries, comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. In this article, we explore how constructions of conflict within the WPS practices of BRICS states relate to the acknowledgement of, and commitment to, the agenda more broadly. We ultimately argue that the BRICS' commitment to the WPS agenda is driven more by identity-making geopolitical considerations, including geostrategic interests, than a politics of peace.