A variety of research has been done on why it is important to include local women in peace processes to gain a more sustainable peace. Despite this, there is a limited amount of information and research about women mediation networks and their aim to empower local women peacebuilders. This research explores how women mediation networks can support and empower women in conflict resolutions in relation to the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. By using semi-structured interviews and literature analysis, a case study of the Swedish Women’s Mediation Network will be conducted. The analysis of the Swedish Women’s Mediation Network, reveals that the network mainly works with the representation of women and uses capacity-building to empower women in other regions. This research brings more awareness to the Women Mediation Networks and their mission to increase the number of women in peace processes.

The aim of this paper is to examine if the two latest Peace Plans in the Palestine-Israeli con-flict observes the sources of the conflict and presents measures in the purpose of solving them. The point of departure is William Azar’s theory of protracted social conflict (PSC). According to Azar, the internal sources of a PSC lies in three clusters of variables: the com-munal content of a society, the deprivation of human needs as an underlying source of PSC, and the role of the state in the deprivation or satisfaction of human needs. The study is de-signed as a multiple-case study where the units of analysis are the Roadmap to Peace and the Geneva Initiative. An analyze instrument, based on operationalization of Azar’s three clusters of internal sources of a PSC, is developed and used to analyze the Roadmap to peace and the Geneva Initiative. The conclusions are that the two Peace Plans observes and present meas-ures to solve the communal content of the conflict, but both Peace Plans are unsatisfactory in presenting measures aiming to solve problems related to the role of the state and human needs. Especially the acceptance need within the state is missing in the contents of the Peace Plans.

Following conflict, peace agreements bring an opportunity to profoundly change societal structures and add to women’s empowerment. Using affirmative action tools like electoral gender quotas, women’s numerical presence, or descriptive representation, has more than doubled since the 1995 Beijing Declaration. However, women’s descriptive representation does not always result in women’s representation beyond numbers, or substantive representation. This thesis aims to solve why quotas do not always lead to a rise in women’s substantive representation by exploring one possible explanation: the effect of women’s rights provisions in peace agreements on the outcomes of electoral gender quota-implementation. It argues that women’s rights provisions in peace agreements can affect policymaking outcomes in the postwar context in terms of increased substantive representation of women. The thesis employs the method of structured, focused comparison to compare the two post-war countries, Nepal and Angola. It finds support for the hypothesis that electoral gender quotas implemented following a peace agreement with women’s rights provisions leads to a larger increase in women’s substantive representation than those implemented following a peace agreement without such provisions. However, further qualitative cross-case analysis and large-n quantitative research are needed to draw more certain conclusions.

Pourquoi les négociations de paix échouent-elles? Pour répondre à cette question, ce mémoire synthétise la littérature sur les théories de la négociation et l’intervention de tierces parties dans les conflits intra-étatiques. À l’aide de la méthode de l’étude de cas, j’applique ce cadre théorique au troisième cycle de négociations de paix entre la Turquie et le Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan, qui s’est tenu de la fin décembre 2012 à Juillet 2015. Le modèle de négociation de guerre met l’accent sur les problèmes d’information asymétrique et engagement crédible qui mènent à l’échec de négociations. Les problèmes d’information asymétrique et engagement crédible sont habituellement plus aigus dans les conflits intra-étatiques. Car il est plus difficile d’obtenir les informations sur les capacités militaires des groupes armés non-étatiques (GANE) et il y a généralement de grandes asymétries de pouvoir entre les États et les GANE. Cette étude de cas apporte ainsi quatre contributions à la compréhension du sujet. Premièrement, lors d’un processus de paix, les deux parties impliquées peuvent consciemment faire des choix qui ne leur permettront pas d’atteindre leurs objectifs. Deuxièmement, ces choix résultent des mesures mal-conçues dans les pratiques de négociation et/ou l’absence de tierce partie qui rétablirait l’équilibre relatif de pouvoir et qui le maintiendrait pendant les négociations de paix. En fin de compte, cela accentue les problèmes d’engagement crédible. Troisièmement, les changements exogènes perturbateurs en matière des capacités relatives, en particulier en faveur des GANE, peuvent produire les problèmes d’information asymétrique. Quatrièmement, certains conflits ne se prêtent pas à l’intervention de tierce partie. Il peut être très difficile ou lourd de conséquence pour les tierces parties de rétablir l’équilibre relatif des pouvoirs. / Why do peace negotiations fail? Answering this question, this dissertation synthesizes the literature on bargaining theory and third party involvement in intrastate conflicts. Using qualitative case study methods, I employ this theoretical framework to the third round of the peace talks between Turkey and Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which was held between December 2012 and July 2015. Bargaining model of war highlights the problems of information asymmetries and credible commitment that lead to bargaining failures. Information asymmetries and commitment problems are usually more severe in intrastate conflicts because it tends to be more difficult to obtain information about the military capabilities of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and there tends to be larger power asymmetries between states and NSAGs. The case highlights four sets of implications. First, both sides in a peace process can willingly make choices that fail to achieve the ends to which they aspired. Second, these choices result from ill-designed measures in bargaining practices and/or the lack of a third party that would redress the relative balance of power and maintain it during the peace talks. This ultimately intensifies the problems of credible commitment. Third, disruptive exogenous shifts in relative capabilities, especially in favor of the NSAG, may produce asymmetric information problems. Fourth, some conflicts do not lend themselves to third-party involvement, as it may be too difficult or costly for third parties to redress the relative balance of power.

[pt] O recente processo de paz na Colômbia (2012-2016) figura entre um dos principais acontecimentos contemporâneos nas agendas de paz e segurança na América Latina. Em linhas gerais, as negociações e o Acordo Final delas resultante foram considerados uma história de sucesso na narrativa internacional. De um lado, resultaram no término do conflito civil de mais de cinco décadas entre o Estado colombiano e as FARC-EP. De outro, fizeram isso de acordo com as melhores práticas internacionais em resolução de conflitos e construção da paz, principalmente em termos de adereçamento das raízes estruturais do conflito e de inclusão de atores da sociedade civil local. Nosso objetivo, nessa dissertação, é colocar em xeque essa narrativa de idoneidade e sucesso em torno do processo de paz na Colômbia. Fazemos isso partindo de um ponto de referência distinto do geralmente utilizado nas abordagens acadêmicas a esse conflito, priorizando sujeitos negligenciados por essas abordagens. Nos perguntamos, então: de que maneira as lutas indígenas em torno do processo de paz na Colômbia contribuem para pensar criticamente esse processo de paz? Em nossa argumentação, um primeiro elemento ressaltado pelas lutas indígenas em torno do processo de paz colombiano é que a paz é um conceito inerentemente político, em disputa por diversos atores sociais e suas agendas. Daí, avançamos uma conceitualização da paz como peça no tabuleiro político da Colômbia, demonstrando como foi mobilizada por importantes atores da cena política do país. Um segundo elemento que, em nossa avaliação, fica evidente a partir das lutas indígenas em torno do processo de paz na Colômbia é o que aqui chamamos de Colonialidade da Paz. Trata-se da reprodução, no processo de paz, das relações de poder e hierarquias sociais da matriz colonial de poder estabelecida no sistema-mundo moderno/colonial, notadamente a partir das dimensões da colonialidade do poder, do saber e do ser. A partir dessa percepção, propomos três estratégias analíticas – o resgate do legado colonial, o desvelamento de lógicas coloniais e a abertura de espaço para as vozes, manifestações e lutas subalternas – para pensar na colonialidade da paz na Colômbia. Ao utilizá-las para abordas as lutas indígenas em torno do processo de paz, notamos narrativas de complexificação de discursos sobre a violência; limitações nos modelos de participação no processo de paz e mobilizações sociais para contrarrestar essas limitações. Notamos, então, elementos que pensamos ser providenciais para desvelar a colonialidade presente no processo de paz na Colômbia, e apontar para possíveis horizontes decoloniais em torno da paz. / [en] The recent peace process in Colombia (2012-2016) is an important event in contemporary peace and security agendas in Latin America. The negotiations and the Acuerdo de Paz in the country were celebrated in the international narrative as a success story. On the one hand, it has ended more than five decades of conflict between the Colombian state and the FARC-EP. On the other hand, they were able to do it with detailed guidelines and with a large share of the Colombian civilian population. Our objective, in this work, is to test this optimistic narrative around the peace process in Colombia. We asked how do the profits of indigenous organizations face the peace process that contributed to (re) thinking critically about this phenomenon? So, we argue, from reflections on indigenous profits, that peace is a concept in political dispute over its scope and definition. We also argue that the peace processes - notably Colombia - often reproduce speeches and practices of power and racial hierarchy proper to the coloniality of power, to know and to be. Faced with this, we have outlined three analytical strategies - the rescue of colonial historical legacies; the unveiling of colonial logics and the opening of spaces for you and subordinate agencies - which, we think, help us to understand the coloniality of peace and indigenous profits around the recent peace process in Colombia. / [es] El reciente proceso de paz en Colombia (2012-2016) es un acontecimiento importante en las agendas contemporáneas de paz y seguridad en América Latina. Las negociaciones y el Acuerdo de Paz en el país fueran celebrados en la narrativa internacional como un caso de suceso. De un lado, punieron fin a más de cinco décadas de conflicto entre el Estado colombiano y las FARC-EP. De otro, lograron hacerlo con pautas osadas y con grande participación de la población civil colombiana. Nuestro objetivo, en ese trabajo, es cuestionar esa narrativa optimista entorno del proceso de paz en Colombia. Indagamos de qué manera las luchas de organizaciones indígenas frente al proceso de paz contribuyen para (re) pensar críticamente en ese fenómeno? Así, argumentamos, a partir de reflexiones acerca de las luchas indígenas, que la paz es un concepto en disputa política acerca de su alcance y definición. Argumentamos, también, que los procesos de paz – notablemente el de Colombia – muchas veces reproducen discursos y prácticas de poder y jerarquización racial propias de la colonialidad del poder, der saber e del ser. Frente a eso, delineamos tres estrategias analíticas – el rescate de los legados históricos coloniales; el desvelamiento de lógicas coloniales y la apertura de espacios para las voces y agencias subalternas – que, pensamos, nos ayudan a comprender la colonialidad de la paz y las luchas indígenas en torno del reciente proceso de paz en Colombia.