ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the pain and suffering that war entails. It reviews the context of peacekeeping and crisis management. It discusses implications how to design research projects. This approach stems from lessons learned from female police officers interviewed for research on effectiveness of gender-mainstreaming policy in practice. These women were chiefs or deputy chiefs and had decades of experience in their home countries; they had also worked in international crisis management. They were optimistic professionals, and they shared an open-hearted, positive approach that shaped their ethical action and had real effects on people's lives. The chapter asserts that assessing what working well and developing best practices accordingly, rather than focusing primarily on problems, would lead to significant improvements in international crisis management missions. Traditionally feminist research has focused on giving voice to marginalized and disadvantaged groups in global politics.
