Recommendations
Women Building Peace: What they do. Why it matters
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Women Building Peace: What they do. Why it matters. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007.
What is women's part in the construction of peace? Why is it important? These are some of the questions which the author uses to examine women's contributions to the prevention and transformation of conflicts, mediation and peace negotiations, disarmament and demobilization processes and the reintegration of combatants, governance in post-conflict scenarios, transitional justice and reconciliation.
Her work as a researcher, trainer and writer has brought her into contact with women in Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Nepal, Uganda, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, South Africa, Colombia and Palestine, and is the basis for her consideration of the experience of building bridges between the grassroots work by these women and the political sphere and international institutions. This reflection leads to the conviction that the inclusion and empowerment of women in the prevention of conflicts and in peace processes is not an idealism in the midst of international realpolitik, but instead is a pragmatic option if the objective to be achieved is sustainable peace.
(E.G.)