ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the development of the liberal peace paradigm within post-Cold War and post-9/11 geopolitics, which has seen the emergence of an array of concepts in seeking and instituting peace and security: new wars, humanitarian intervention, responsibility to protect, the conceptual merging of security and development, and corollary academic theorising on international relations and security. It focuses on to the gender component of peace operations and how this has evolved in policy and practice, examined through the lens of critical feminist theory. The chapter introduces the case study of Timor-Leste, as the experience of 24 years of violent military occupation provides essential context to examine the building of a gendered peace post-occupation. From critical feminist perspectives, the form and function of peace operations can be challenged, given they operate on the patriarchal and militarised logics of statehood, politics and economics. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book.