Soumita Basu on the Evolution of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda

Ever since its adoption in October 2000, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda has emerged as the landmark global framework promoting women’s participation in conflict resolution and achieving sustainable peace. Through its four pillars, participation, conflict prevention, protection, and relief and recovery, the WPS agenda aims to provide a holistic approach to international security. Since the adoption of the agenda, 103 countries have adopted National Action Plans (NAPs) to enhance women’s participation in the security domain at a domestic level. Regional Action Plans (RAPs) have also emerged as an effort to collaboratively implement the WPS agenda. However, despite the domestic and regional efforts to implement the WPS agenda, there are normative and institutional constraints that impede the full realisation of the agenda.

In this episode of Interpreting India, Soumita Basu joins Shibani Mehta to discuss how the WPS agenda has evolved since its adoption in 2000. What is its significance, and how does it operate to achieve its goal of ensuring equitable gender participation in peace-building? How is the agenda being interpreted by countries with different contextual and political settings? And finally, what steps should India undertake to advance its approach toward the WPS agenda?

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Episode Contributors

Soumita Basu is an associate professor at the Department of International Relations at the South Asian University. She holds a PhD in International Politics from University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She has worked extensively on feminist international relations and the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security. Her recent publications include New Directions in Women, Peace and Security. She has also contributed to Gendered Dimensions of the United Nations Security Council: Some Notes in View of India's Eighth Term (2021-22)’and Routledge Handbook of Feminist Peace Research.

Shibani Mehta is a research analyst with the Security Studies Program at Carnegie India. Her research focuses on India’s security and foreign policies.

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