Published: 08-Jul-2021
The manner in which a war terminates can affect the quality of the peace, not least as this relates to women's political rights. This included variety of substantive reforms negotiated among the previous fighters. Although excluded within the peace negotiation process, women's organizations, with support from international actors, still managed to secure the inclusion of a broad range of gender equality issues when the reforms were implemented.
In contrast, after defeating two rebel groups, the government in Sri Lanka was not willing to pursue post-war reforms to address the root causes of the conflict, despite the rebels ability to rally women on problems with social injustice. We argue that this variation indicates a missing part of the argument: that the type of war termination can affect the trajectory of women's political rights post-war. To test this idea, we develop an argument drawing on sociology and political science, where scholars have used existing political structures to explain the causes of social mobilization, as well as the onset and termination of armed conflict.
In particular, a non-comprehensive peace agreement (non-CPA), or a comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) open space for reform processes. These types of war termination additionally both increase the willingness of the elites to realize reforms and make them more open to international influence and support. For these reasons, we argue that we would only expect non-CPAs and CPAs to result in improvements in women's political rights compared to other forms of termination such as government or rebel victory. That is, so as for pressure by women's groups and social ruptures to be translated into post-war improvements in women's rights, there's a requirement for substantial institutional reforms. This logic suggests that a victorious rebel group has a chance to dismantle the present institutions and establish new ones. Therefore, we might expect more encompassing and significant political and institutional reforms when rebel groups win a war.
An implemented CPA: Nepal A decade long Maoist conflict in Nepal that started in 1996 ended with the signing of a CPA in 2006. The agreement provided the chance to determine social, political, and economic reforms, negotiated among the previous fighters, including the Maoist rebel group, and a broad range of other stakeholders.
A Non-CPA: The DRC A partial agreement was reached between the AFDF-led (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire) government in the DRC and the Congolese Rally for Democracy, or the RCD and the Movement de Liberation (Congolese Liberation Movement, or the MLC) in May 2001. Women's groups were not allowed to raise specific gender equality issues in this process but managed to ensure participation in the continued dialogue process.
The Sri Lankan government defeated a leftist insurgent group, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), in 1989 and a secessionist insurgency, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in 2009. After both the government's victories, the Sri Lankan government didn't pursue broad social or political reforms to deal with the basis causes of the conflicts