Book review: The Search for Lasting Peace: Critical Perspectives on Gender-Responsive Human Security
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| Author | Maria Jansson |
| DOI | 10.1177/0010836715585175 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Cooperation and Conflict
2016, Vol. 51(4) 557 –562
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0010836715585175
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Book reviews
Rosalind Boyd (ed.), The Search for Lasting Peace: Critical Perspectives on Gender-Responsive Human
Security, Ashgate, 2015; 202 pp.: ISBN 9781472420961.
How are women’s voices represented in human security? What are the challenges for
granting women security and what constitutes insecurities for women? The anthology
The Search for Lasting Peace: Critical Perspectives on Gender-Responsive Human
Security tries to answer these questions by investigating different aspects of human secu-
rity. The contributions to the book is based on action-research, which aims at moving
scholarly works beyond academia in order to contribute to ‘meaningful change on the
ground’ (Boyd: 12). This is underlined by the fact that several of the contributing authors
are engaged in activist and/or implementing activities.
Departing from a feminist critique of security, Rosalind Boyd argues in the introduc-
tion that the public/private split, as well as the dichotomous distinction between peace
and conflict, need to be transcended in order to understand the insecurities of women. In
addition, women must be allowed to speak about security issues on their own record, if
peace and security are to be achieved.
The book is structured in three parts. The first part of the book provides, together with
the introduction, a presentation of the discussion of human security and gender and the
implementation of United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution 1325 on Women,
Peace and Security. The second part is presented as ‘Women’s testimonies’ and includes
four case studies where gender and human security are actualized in different ways. The
last part problematizes the ways that gender has been dealt with (or not) when efforts to
assure human security have been undertaken in processes of transitional justice, as well
as disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) processes.
Sexual violence is a recurring theme in several of the chapters. In a case study of the
post-conflict justice and reconciliation process in East Timor, Corey Levine shows how
sexual violence is de facto defined as rape. This constitutes a very narrow understanding
of violence as it leaves out all other forms of violence against women. Moreover, as the
UN mandated Special Crime Unit only dealt with cases during a narrow time-frame,
much of the conflict-related sexual violence did not fall under its jurisdiction. Another
problem is how to estimate the harm of rape. This is discussed by Colleen Duggan et al.
in a chapter on post-conflict justice in Guatemala and Peru. It provides a deepened under-
standing of the far-reaching effects of rape on women’s possibilities to make a living and
to participate in social and political life. These two chapters are action-research at its
best: well contextualized accounts that contribute to scholarly discussions and provide
important information to improve implementation processes.
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