The Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Sweden and South Korea - A comparison of the Political Process of the WPS agenda and National Action Plans

Abstract: The study investigated how the political process of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda differs between South Korea and Sweden. Through the document analysis and the expert interviews, the research explored the formal and informal institutional dynamics that influence the development and implementation of National Action Plans (NAPs) and the WPS agenda. Also, it explored internal and external gender dynamics that affect the WPS agenda at the domestic, regional and international levels. Initially, political leadership, the power of the leading ministries and the focus area of the civil society organisations (CSOs) have led the different scopes and levels of implementation, resulting in the Swedish WPS agenda being more regional and international and South Korean to domestic. Also, different historical and regional security environments affected this tendency. While both South Korean and Swedish CSOs have participated in the policy development, South Korean CSOs have yet to participate in the actual implementation, particularly in development cooperation. Nevertheless, the policy development of the WPS agenda enables the representation of the marginalised women's issues at the domestic and international levels, particularly in the security framework in Sweden and South Korea.