Karin Aggestam

This article analyses how UN Security Council resolution 1325 and the Women, Peace, Security (WPS) agenda have been adopted in the Middle East and North Africa. The region faces huge security challenges triggered by recurrent armed conflicts, terrorism and wars both between and within states. Four thematic areas have been chosen: (1) terrorism; (2) peace negotiations; (3) state-building; and (4) democratization. The article uses empirical vignettes from Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Tunisia to assess the normative framework of the WPS agenda and its National Action Plans. The article concludes by highlighting some of the core problems of implementation, such as the persistence of patriarchal societal values, institutionalized hypermasculinity in and among armed groups, and the number of unresolved conflicts in the region. It also underlines the problem of instrumentalizing the WPS agenda and the strategic essentialization of women in peacekeeping, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction.