Abstract
Why have the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations had so much difficulty implementing the Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security, despite the UN’s rhetorical commitment to this agenda? Activists and supporters of the Resolutions blame bias against gender issues, organizational inertia and a lack of political will in the organization itself. Influenced by international relations and sociological theory, I question whether organizational change and discrepancies between rhetoric and practice in international organizations can be explained without considering how stakeholders outside the organizations, and especially member states, influence and place restrictions on the actions of the DPKO and its staff. I try to explain the contradiction between rhetorical commitment and practical implementation through an empirical analysis of how the group responsible for coordinating this implementation process at the DPKO worked to change attitudes and practices relating to these Resolutions in their own organization and in the military aspects of peacekeeping missions, and what factors and actors they considered to be constraining or aiding them in their effort. My findings show that stakeholders from other parts of the UN organization, peacekeeping missions and especially the member states permeate the implementation process at the DPKO and that representatives from all these groups initially had strong reservations against certain aspects of the Resolutions. Advancing the agenda consequently implied changing attitudes, culture and practices not only within the DPKO, but also among the member states and military personnel in peacekeeping missions. The DPKO team coordinating the implementation process worked strategically to achieve this, but also had to rely on the efforts of allies supporting their efforts. While the team has made some progress, the implementation process is not yet over, and realizing implementation in practice will rely on the coordinated efforts of the DPKO team and its allies.