Women peacekeepers and rights training in failed states

Learner's name.

Title of the proposed Major Research Project

Overview of the proposed Major Research Project

The need for research

Scope of the study and its significance

Central research question and sub-questions

Relationship between proposed topic and completed academic portion of the program

Overview of Failed States

Recent Peacekeeping Initiatives in Failed States

The Role of Women as Peacekeepers in Failed States

Methodological design

Research Ethics

Major project timetable

Learner's Name:

Learner Name Here

Title of the proposed Major Research Project:

The provision of equal rights and training for women in order to maintain a sustainable peace for failed states.

Overview of the proposed Major Research Project:

Introduction

Throughout history, most of the wars were started by men, who were expected to expand their land for their kingdom and protect their honour. Women were the victims of these wars, along with children and the elderly. It make senses, then, that women now serve as peacekeepers. In fact, the idea of women as peacekeepers has spread throughout the international community because of this history and evidence that women have the capacity to do it right. "To build peace requires visioning what constitutes peace and security across cultures, nationalities, ethnicities, and between genders" (Mazurana 1999:2). However, while women and children are often the primary victims of violet conflicts, they are rarely recognized as major stakeholders in the peace processes. As Mazurana states, gender should be incorporated as a key dimension of human security discourses. Instead, the potential roles and actual contribution of women to peacebuilding have gone underutilized and unrecognized at community, national and international levels. It is time to give women higher status by empowering them through the provision equal rights and appropriate training to help them succeed in peacebuilding missions in failed and failing states around the world.

Central research question and sub-questions

The primary research question to be addressed by this study is: "What kind of right or training should be provided for women in failed states in order to help them maintain a sustainable peace?" To develop a comprehensive answer to this primary research question, the following sub-questions will also guide the study:

Sub-Questions:

1. How can NGOs help in promoting women as peacekeeping in failed states?

2. What can governments do in promoting the social status and equal rights of women in these regions?

3. What kind of training should women in failed states receive to help them in a peacekeeping role?

Recent Peacekeeping Initiatives in Failed States

To date, the international community has intervened in the failed states of Somalia, Haiti, Cambodia, Rwanda, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia among others; however, the results of these peacekeeping interventions have been mixed and have been plagued by a lack of legitimacy of their efforts (Manwaring & Joes 2000). According to these authors, "The focus of legitimacy in these interventions is on the legality of the intervention and the conduct of intervening forces. The study of international interventions during the later part of the twentieth century suggests that legitimacy is the critical dimension, determining the success or failure of such interventions" (Manwaring & Joes 2000:41). In order to be viewed as truly "legitimate," a peacekeeping force must be comprised of individuals who are viewed by the populace of a failed state as being appropriate to the role and having a proper authority to conduct such operations (Cockburn & Zarkov 2002). In this regard, Cockburn and Zarkov report that, "International humanitarian and human rights law provides the legal foundation for all peacekeeping operations. And a solid basis exists within this body of laws and instruments for mandating a gender perspective into those operations" (44). This observation is a reference to the role of women as peacekeepers in general and in failed states in particular, and these issues are discussed further below.

The Role of Women as Peacekeepers in Failed States

According to Cockburn and Zarkov (2002), the basic international treaty concerning the rights of women is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) which, together with its Article 1, is generally cited in support of integrating women in peacekeeping operations. There are other internal legal precedents for the use of women in a peacekeeping role, though. In this regard, Cockburn and Zarkov add that, "The precedent for mainstreaming gender into peacekeeping operations is established by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that followed from the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995" (44). The "Platform for Action" included, among other issues affected women and children following armed conflicts, a call for "a greater involvement of women in decision-making after war and in international peacekeeping interventions" (Cockburn & Zarkov 2002:44). Indeed, the increased use of women in international peacekeeping operations is also advocated by women's rights proponents. As Kramarae and Spender (2000) emphasize, "The hope that peacekeeping might serve as an important alternative to the traditional use of military force is one shared by some feminists. The form of military force that is inspiring perhaps the greatest hope is the United Nations peacekeeping force. It inspires optimism because it seems to perform military duties without being militaristic" (1500).

Summary

The research showed that the latter half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century have been marked by an increasing number of failing and failed states that have required a response from the international community to restore order and the provision of basic human needs. Failed states collapse from within for a variety of reasons, but the research also showed that when they do, time is of the essence because violence is an inevitable consequence of these events and that history has shown time and again that such outbreaks inordinately affect women and children to a greater degree. The research also showed that the international peacekeeping efforts to date have met with mixed results, with one of the major glaring issues being the perception of a lack of legitimacy on the part of the peacekeeping efforts. In order to improve this perception, the research was consistent in emphasizing the need to integrate more women into the peacekeeping effort and there are international legal precedents to support this effort.

Section 6: Relevance of the Proposed Topic:

In the wake of the ongoing global economic downturn, it is reasonable to posit that the number of failed states around the world will continue to increase in the years to come. Today, many states are on the verge of failing and it is only a matter of time before the dual pressures of rising energy costs and depleted resources cause these states to fail. In order to prepare for the violence that is characteristic of failed states in a timely and meaningful fashion, it is essential to identify effective interventions and to provide the peacekeepers that will be tasked with implementing them with the training they need to achieve their peacekeeping mission.

Section 7: Table of Contents

Final table of contents to be added during residency two.

Section 8: Sources of Information

In order to develop a comprehensive and informed series of case studies of the role of women as peacekeepers in failed states, the study proposed herein will consult resources from both public and university libraries, reliable online research sources such as EBCSOHost and Questia, as well as information provided by international organizations and agencies including the United Nations.

Section 9: Research Methodology

Methodological Approach and Design

In order to answer the above-stated research questions in an informed and complete fashion, this study will use a qualitative case study methodology to identify and examine the role played by women as peacekeepers in countries such as Rwanda as well as others that are considered to be failed states. According to Zikmund, the case study method is "an exploratory research technique that intensively investigates one or a few situations similar to the researcher's problem situation" (2000:722). One of the main advantages of using a qualitative case study approach is that a subject area can be investigated in depth and with great attention to detail (Leedy 1997).

Research Process

The research process will begin with an exploratory approach to develop the requisite background and information needed to identify salient issues and constraints that have been encountered in the past when all-male peacekeeping initiatives have been used and to determine what steps have been taken to integrate women into peacekeeping missions in recent years. Following the development of this information, further research will be conducted to determine what types of training are deemed essential and desirable for international peacekeepers in general and for women in particular. Finally, the research will focus on failed states that have been the recipient of international peacekeeping efforts by all-male and mixed-gender peacekeeping forces to identify opportunities for improving these efforts in the future.

Assumptions

For the purposes of the study proposed herein, it will be assumed that there will be no bias on the part of the author in the selection of resources and their interpolation concerning the foregoing issues. It will also be assumed that the material developed for the case studies is factual and accurate.

Section 10: Research ethics

Because the qualitative case study methodology will not involve primary research in the form of questionnaires or interviews, there are minimal ethical considerations involved in this study; however, in the event such primary research becomes necessary, approval will be received from the RRU Research Office and the School of Peace and Conflict Studies prior to any such research being conducted. To this end, the required RRU Ethics documents will be prepared and submitted after the Second Residency Program.

Section 11: Major Project timetable

The project timetable is to be added during residency two.

Section 12: Works Cited

Cockburn, Cynthia & Dubravka Zarkov. The Postwar Moment: Militaries, Masculinities and International Peacekeeping, Bosnia and the Netherlands. London: Lawrence & Wishart,

2002.

Jackson, Robert. The Global Covenant: Human Conduct in a World of States. Oxford, England:

Oxford University Press, 2003.

Kramarae, Cheris & Dale Spender. Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global

Women's Issues and Knowledge. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Leedy, Phillip D. Practical Research: Planning and Design (6th ed). Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1997.

Manwaring, Max G. & Anthony James Joes. Beyond Declaring Victory and Coming Home: The

Challenges of Peace and Stability Operations. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000.

Mazurana, E. Dyan & McKay, E. Susan. Women & Peacebuilding. Montreal: International

Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, 1999.

Schoiswohl, Michael. Status and (Human Rights) Obligations of Non-Recognized de Facto

Regimes in International Law: The Case of 'Somaliland' TheResurrection of Somaliland

against All International 'Odds': State Collapse, Secession, Non-Recognition, and Human Rights. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2004.

UNIFEM. (2005). Women's Essential Role in Peacebuilding. Retrieved from http://www.

unifem.org/resources/fact_sheets.php?StoryID=303.

Zikmund, W.C. Business Research Methods (6th ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Dryden Press, 2000.