Scholarly debates and contested meanings of WPS

This chapter sets out some of the critiques that have emerged over the past decade with respect to the WPS agenda. It examines the theoretical accounts that highlight the conceptual and institutional limitations of WPS, specifically the centrality of the victimhood and protection dialogues in the promotion of the agenda. Moreover, this chapter examines the geographies where WPS has purchase, as well as the locations where it struggles to gain meaningful support. This chapter also explores the contributions of feminist institutionalism to the theory and practice of WPS. In doing so, it reveals a more nuanced understanding of the success and failure of WPS. We point to the importance of a layered understanding of how institutional actors advance this agenda or pose sizeable barriers to its success. Our analysis reveals that the limits of its practical success (or the complexity of the success that has been realized) underscore some of the broader conceptual and historical analysis.