Gendered Influences on Conflict Resolution in Intrastate Conflicts

To what extent do gendered aspects of society and violence influence conflict resolution in intrastate conflicts? There is a substantial body of literature that demonstrates how structural factors such as terrain, economic development, quality of governance, and ethnic divisions shape conflict parties' decisions to start, continue, end, and resume armed conflict. There also is extensive research that shows how the balance of power between belligerents, relative rebel strength, and number of actors influence third party conflict resolution efforts and their chances of success. Gender is an integral part of these factors. However, it has been largely overlooked in the systematic study of conflict resolution. Hence, I make an important theoretical contribution by applying a gender lens to the process of conflict resolution in intrastate conflicts. My arguments and analyses in this thesis are informed to varying degrees by liberal, constructivist, and realist feminist approaches. In my empirical analyses I primarily rely on logistic regression, duration, and count models. Using these I illustrate that more patriarchal gender relations that manifest in greater exclusion of women from public life decrease the likelihood of negotiations in intrastate conflicts. I further demonstrate that mediation onset is strongly associated with rebel sexual violence and provide evidence from the case study of Sierra Leone to support my argument. Additionally, I show that conflicts are more likely to recur when armed groups mobilize and socialize new recruits by perpetrating sexual violence in the preceding inactive period. These findings have important implications for governments, potential mediators, policy makers and international advocates seeking to peacefully resolve armed intrastate conflicts.