Interpreting Global Women, Peace, and Security Norms: Institutional Dynamics in the European Union

ABSTRACT

Since the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda has spread widely across international institutions, yet it has been interpreted and operationalized in markedly different ways. Existing scholarship has documented both the promise and the limitations of WPS, but often treats the agenda itself as conceptually stable, focusing on normative aspirations or implementation gaps. This article shifts attention to the process of norm interpretation by examining how international organizations construct the meaning of global WPS norms. Focusing on the European Union (EU), we analyze how and why the EU has adopted a predominantly rights‐based interpretation of WPS, framing gender equality and gender mainstreaming as intrinsically valuable. The article makes two contributions. First, it introduces a typology that enables systematic comparison of how international organizations interpret WPS. Second, it shows that interpretation is shaped by institutional dynamics, including the civil–military balance, external norm entrepreneurship by civil society organizations, and internal norm entrepreneurship.