Knowledge Production About Women’s Experiences of Conflict. A Critical Analysis of the WPS Agenda
(2025) In Internasjonal Politikk 83(3). p.488-499- Abstract
The Nordic states have played a central role in the production of knowledge within the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Through a strong research tradition in peace and conflict studies, extensive policy development, and significant international engagement, the Nordic region has contributed to both the theoretical and practical advancement of the agenda. In this article, we examine the WPS agenda as a knowledge system – an episteme – that, over the course of a quarter-century, has shaped a partially new field encompassing research, policy, and practice. Our critical analysis highlights what is identified and validated as valuable knowledge within this episteme, and which actors are considered legitimate knowledge holders. Our... (More)
The Nordic states have played a central role in the production of knowledge within the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Through a strong research tradition in peace and conflict studies, extensive policy development, and significant international engagement, the Nordic region has contributed to both the theoretical and practical advancement of the agenda. In this article, we examine the WPS agenda as a knowledge system – an episteme – that, over the course of a quarter-century, has shaped a partially new field encompassing research, policy, and practice. Our critical analysis highlights what is identified and validated as valuable knowledge within this episteme, and which actors are considered legitimate knowledge holders. Our central argument is that the WPS agenda has gradually evolved through the global circulation of individual women’s lived experiences and perspectives, thereby influencing gendered power structures. At the same time, we find that the agenda also reinforces unequal structures and sustains silences. Finally, we reflect on the importance of interrogating knowledge production and making visible the relationship between epistemic power, epistemic agency, and epistemic violence. This, we argue, helps us to understand the paradox of a system designed to strengthen women’s protection, rights, and participation, while simultaneously producing epistemic violence.
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- author
- Björkdahl, Annika LU and Mannergren, Johanna
- organization
- alternative title
- Kunskapsproduktion om kvinnors erfarenheter av konflikt. En kritisk analys av KFS-agendan
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- knowledge production, epistemic agency, epistemic violence, knowledge system, WPS agenda
- in
- Internasjonal Politikk
- volume
- 83
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 12 pages
- publisher
- Cappelen Damm Akademisk
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105020296028
- ISSN
- 0020-577X
- DOI
- 10.23865/intpol.v83.7229
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: ©2025 Annika Björkdahl & Johanna Mannergren. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
- id
- cc1e0820-1b62-4573-941d-3b249b7d1641
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-15 10:43:41
- date last changed
- 2026-01-15 10:44:25
@article{cc1e0820-1b62-4573-941d-3b249b7d1641,
abstract = {{<p>The Nordic states have played a central role in the production of knowledge within the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Through a strong research tradition in peace and conflict studies, extensive policy development, and significant international engagement, the Nordic region has contributed to both the theoretical and practical advancement of the agenda. In this article, we examine the WPS agenda as a knowledge system – an episteme – that, over the course of a quarter-century, has shaped a partially new field encompassing research, policy, and practice. Our critical analysis highlights what is identified and validated as valuable knowledge within this episteme, and which actors are considered legitimate knowledge holders. Our central argument is that the WPS agenda has gradually evolved through the global circulation of individual women’s lived experiences and perspectives, thereby influencing gendered power structures. At the same time, we find that the agenda also reinforces unequal structures and sustains silences. Finally, we reflect on the importance of interrogating knowledge production and making visible the relationship between epistemic power, epistemic agency, and epistemic violence. This, we argue, helps us to understand the paradox of a system designed to strengthen women’s protection, rights, and participation, while simultaneously producing epistemic violence.</p>}},
author = {{Björkdahl, Annika and Mannergren, Johanna}},
issn = {{0020-577X}},
keywords = {{knowledge production; epistemic agency; epistemic violence; knowledge system; WPS agenda}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{488--499}},
publisher = {{Cappelen Damm Akademisk}},
series = {{Internasjonal Politikk}},
title = {{Knowledge Production About Women’s Experiences of Conflict. A Critical Analysis of the WPS Agenda}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/intpol.v83.7229}},
doi = {{10.23865/intpol.v83.7229}},
volume = {{83}},
year = {{2025}},
}