نبذة مختصرة : This thesis explores the intersection of gender mainstreaming and hegemonic power structures within the context of peace and security. Further, it is argued that gender mainstreaming can be understood using the Gramscian concept of hegemony and that, while advancing in intersectional claims, mainstreaming strategies (re)produce essentialist notions of gender and lack the capability for transformative potential in zones of conflict due to the epistemic violence inherent in the hegemonic discourse of liberal peace and security strategies. Going further this thesis argues that while gender mainstreaming discourse that engenders conflict shifted, liberal conceptions of gender equality are still centered. At the same time, through the logic of hegemony, marginalized and local perspectives are selectively silenced through the delimitations and need interpretations set by the policy discourse. This is illustrated by analyzing the two most recent U.S. WPS Strategies, U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, Security 2013 and U.S. Strategy and National Action Plan on Women, Peace, Security 2023. In line with previous literature, it is argued that the given policy discourse can be seen as a continuation of embedded feminism as conceptualized by Krista Hunt as liberal hegemonic claims get (re)constructed by the strategies through the subversion/subordination of subaltern feminisms. The thesis explores these issues utilizing a modified version of Bachi’s “What’s the Problem represented to be?†(WPR) approach, revealing how gender mainstreaming can be seen as a (re)production of liberal hegemonic claims through the logic of governance. By examining the correlation of liberal hegemony and gender mainstreaming in peace and security, the thesis gives insights into the logic of liberal governance and problematizes the pursuit of feminist goals in global governance frameworks.
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