Is the European Commission effectively a champion in gender mainstreaming? The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the existing literature on feminist institutionalism, by attempting to give a...Show moreIs the European Commission effectively a champion in gender mainstreaming? The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the existing literature on feminist institutionalism, by attempting to give a comprehensive explanation as to why the gender mainstreaming strategy has not fulfilled its promises within the EU, and finding answers in its uneven application on the institutional level – in particular, on the level of the European Commission, major promoter of gender equality among the EU institutions. In order to do that, this thesis seeks to analyze a variety of factors which hindered the correct implementation of gender mainstreaming in the European Commission, and in particular: the problematic institutionalization of gender mainstreaming within this institution (both theoretical and empirical); the ineffectiveness of soft policy tools employed by this institution to manage the implementation of gender mainstreaming; the position of the Commission as a role model for other institutions in the implementation of the strategy and the problematic intra-institutional dynamics on gender.Show less
Women have proved to be crucial actors in successful peace processes, overcoming obstacles such as the lack of gender inclusivity in traditional peacebuilding. This thesis intends to analyse how...Show moreWomen have proved to be crucial actors in successful peace processes, overcoming obstacles such as the lack of gender inclusivity in traditional peacebuilding. This thesis intends to analyse how and under which circumstances does women's involvement in peacebuilding reach positive results in terms of gender gap and more effective post-conflict reconstruction. More specifically this work explores the differences between two cases, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, arguing that the key behind the success of the Rwandan example may be found by combining feminist theories and indigenous peacebuilding theories.Show less
