critical feminist justpeace: grounding theory in grassroots praxis

In 2020, feminist scholars and activists celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, a landmark achievement that mainstreams gendered concerns into international peace and security. Yet despite its successes, no international agenda can comprehensively address all sources of violence that women face, and the WPS community remains divided on important issues regarding implementation and substance.

In Critical Feminist Justpeace, Karie Cross Riddle presents an intersectional revision to conflict transformation, arguing that we need complementary theories and practices of gender-conscious peacebuilding for regions and conflicts that the WPS agenda cannot reach. Riddle draws on fieldwork and conversations with women peacebuilders in Manipur, India, where an intractable, low-intensity armed conflict has troubled the region for over six decades. India refuses to legally acknowledge the conflict, and thus bars international and humanitarian actors from entry. This renders the conflict ineligible for WPS intervention. The case of Manipur poses an important question: under what conditions should transnational feminists employ the WPS agenda--benefitting from its formal, international legitimacy--and under what conditions should they seek alternative paths to peace?

Critical Feminist Justpeace makes the case that we need norms and processes for feminist peacebuilding that can flexibly respond to the particularities of national and local politics and social context. To advocate for contextually-sensitive peacebuilding driven by local actors, Riddle introduces a novel theory--critical feminist justpeace--that provides an intersectional orientation towards conflict transformation. Its aim is to reduce structural power hierarchies and violence, increase equitable justice outcomes across public and private life, and target historically marginalized participants. Original and insightful, Riddle’s theoretical framework serves as a flexible guide for women’s local peacebuilding work.

Karie Cross Riddle is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University. Her research traces themes related to women’s theories and practices in the areas of peace and development, and she teaches courses on feminism, international ethics, human rights, and South Asian politics. Her work has been published in Hypatia, International Feminist Journal of Politics, and Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, among others.