Santoire, Bénédicte2025-03-242025-03-242025-03-24http://hdl.handle.net/10393/50273https://doi.org/10.20381/ruor-30986As a global normative framework, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda is a direct outcome of both transnational feminism and the post-Cold War era. In this global dialogue predominantly between women from the Global North and the Global South, the voices of women located outside this dichotomy have often been marginalized. A look at the WPS agenda literature reveals a reflection of this marginalization and indicates a significant epistemic gap in the post-Soviet space. Missing are the voices of women from the former Soviet Union as experts, along with their unique lived experiences in a region heavily affected by Russian imperialism. Even the most comprehensive and radical critiques of the WPS agenda overlook perspectives from this region and fail to build feminist solidarities beyond a strictly Global North/South analytical focus. This thesis is an empirical exploration of uncharted territory in the WPS agenda as an academic field and a vibrant community for feminist dialogue between research, practice, and advocacy. As such, it is also about discerning the analytical lessons that can be drawn from this empirical investigation and how the distinct experiences of this region can enrich our understanding of certain concepts and theoretical debates in the WPS agenda literature. By analyzing the emergence, adoption, and implementation of WPS National Action Plans (NAPs) in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia, this thesis seeks to: 1) raise awareness of the unique dynamics of the post-Soviet space and its implications for the WPS agenda, 2) make visible and center the voices, agency and advocacy of women working on the WPS agenda in this region, and 3) challenge some of the fundamental concepts and debates at the heart of the WPS agenda. Using a mixed methodology, including fieldwork interviews with 82 key informants, observations, and documentary analysis, this thesis proposes four main findings. First, the emergence and adoption of NAPs are heavily dependent on strategic feminist networks combining femocrats within the Government, UN Women, feminist civil society, and gender experts. Second, the nature of nearby conflict(s), as well as regional geopolitical insecurities, strongly influence the adoption and implementation of NAPs and how actors understand and use the WPS agenda. Third, the entire NAP process(es) is inseparable from broader processes of democratization, autocratization, nation-building, and Euro-Atlantic integration. Fourth, the post-Soviet space shows both region-specific dynamics and global trends in the implementation of the WPS agenda. This thesis's contribution is to show the confrontation between the theoretical ideals of feminist International Relations theories and the empirical realities of an unexplored and often ignored terrain: the post-Soviet space. Through the complexity of the lived, situated experiences and processes behind NAPs in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia, the thesis exposes the limits and shortcomings of some of the current theorization of the WPS agenda by revealing important blind spots in the WPS literature and challenging some of its core debates and concepts.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/WomenPeaceSecurityGenderInternational RelationsFeminismEastern EuropeSouth CaucasusNormsThesis