A Feminist Perspective on the Norwegian Intervention in Libya: Exploring Alternatives for Peace and Security

Abstract

This thesis examines how the Norwegian intervention in Libya was made possible. It also considers how this impacted on other ways of thinking about the issues of security and peace. The aim is to understand the role played by gendered and racialised logics in enabling the intervention in Libya to take place. More specifically, it is claimed that the intervention was made possible through a reliance on particular understandings of masculinity and femininity. Next, it is argued that the gendered and racialised logics that operated in the context of the intervention serve to naturalise the use of force more broadly. The way in which this has impacted on other ways of thinking about the issues of security and peace is further illustrated by a discussion of the alternative realities that could have been possible had we dismantled these logics. The aim is explicitly to develop alternatives to the use of force. The thesis will in this regard consider the idea of a feminist peace, based on the notions of emancipation, social justice, human rights and inclusion. Here, the thesis also discusses whether it is possible to pursue these alternatives within existing mechanisms of international law, including the doctrine of responsibility to protect and the UN Charter.