Grounding the International Norm on Women, Peace and Security: The Role of Domestic Norm Entrepreneurs and the Challenges Ahead

Abstract

Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza Grounding the International Norm on Women, Peace and Security: The Role of Domestic Norm Entrepreneurs and the Challenges Ahead One of the gaps in the study of international norms is the process by which they are institutionalized and accepted at the national level. The international norm, as it negotiates its way through various national (and even grassroots) levels, needs domestic norm entrepreneurs in order to localized. This study traces the localization of the norm on women, peace and security in the Philippines as advanced by the Women Engaged in Action on UNSCR 1325 (WE Act 1325), a network of women’s peace organizations with transnational linkages. It traces the network’s origins and collective work in the crafting of the Philippine National Action Plan on 1325 as well as its various initiatives in fleshing out the norm on the ground. It also looks at the work of its members who eventually became part of the peace process in the country. Since the Philippines’ women-centered laws reflect the country’s commitment to its international commitments, the case study also reveals how women’s rights issues and concerns have become institutionalized. This institutionalization eventually paved the way for gender-consciousness to be part of the normative mindset of key actors advancing changes in society.