Violence against women has been a focus of transnational advocacy networks since the early 1980s, and the United Nations has, in intervening years, passed a series of resolutions to condemn, prevent, investigate, and punish this violence. Member states have committed to implementing this agenda. Yet, despite this buy-in at the global level, implementation at the domestic level remains uneven. Scholars have found that states are more likely to translate global standards into national laws when pressured by women's movements and international organizations. However, a dearth of research on the implementation - at the national and street-levels - of these international women's rights norms hampers an understanding of what happens after states pass laws. In Africa, where most states have not prioritized the prevention of violence against women, and the majority of perpetrators act with impunity, there is a major implementation gap. This gap is acute in some post-conflict countries on the continent. Thus, despite the presence of laws on various forms of violence against women in most African countries, justice remains inaccessible to most victims. In Global Norms and Local Action, Peace A. Medie studies the domestic implementation of international norms by examining how and why two post-conflict states in Africa, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire, have differed in their responses to rape and domestic violence. Specifically, she looks at the roles of the United Nations and women's movements in the establishment of specialized criminal justice sector agencies, and the referral of cases for prosecution. She argues that variation in implementation in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire can be explained by the levels of international and domestic pressures that states face and by the favorability of domestic political and institutional conditions. Medie's study is based on interviews with over 300 policymakers, bureaucrats, staff at the UN and NGOs, police officers, and survivors of domestic violence and rape - an unprecedented depth of research into women's rights and gender violence norm implementation in post-conflict countries. Furthermore, through her interviews with survivors of violence, Medie explains not only how states implement anti-rape and anti-domestic violence norms, but also how women experience and are affected by these norms. She draws on this research to recommend that states adopt a holistic approach to addressing violence against women.

About the Author
Peace A. Medie is Senior Lecturer in Gender and International Politics at the University of Bristol.

Reviews
This study by Medie compares the efforts of Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire to hold perpetrators of sexual violence accountable ... full of interesting anecdotes about how international norms are imposed domestically. * C. M. Henry, CHOICE *
Drawing on rich empirical evidence gathered during extensive fieldwork in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire, Medie presents an unprecedented depth of research into women's rights and gender violence norm implementation in post-conflict countries. She also contributes to the IR literature on norm diffusion by showing that, while international pressure plays an important role in creating norm, domestic factors became more important than international factors at the norm's institutionalization stage. This book is a novel and important contribution to the IR, gender politics, and the African studies' literatures. * Zheng Chen, China International Strategy Review *
Combining theoretical sophistication with detailed and extensive fieldwork, the book is a major contribution not only to the IR literature on norm diffusion and localization, but also to practical policy debates about how to end violence against women. * Rita Abrahamsen, University of Ottawa *
Medie's text is a thorough and unequivocal account of strategies and actions by so-called 'ordinary' women in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire to make anti-violence legislation a reality. By meticulously illustrating the local 'architecture' of movement work, analyzing the local-global nexus, and tracing the different routes to and successes of the 'domestication' of global women's rights norms at the street level in these two countries, Medie helps us better appreciate local-global politics around domestic violence work. Furthermore, we are provided insights into the struggles and bold initiatives of women's rights activists in both countries, work for which they receive insufficient credit in the international discourse on violence against women. * Akosua Adomako Ampofo, University of Ghana *
Medie has written a path-breaking work, not just on violence against women, but on the implementation of international norms. Her rigorous case studies show how international and domestic factors work together to translate international norms into local improvements for human security. By asking us to think about norm institutionalization versus 'street-level' understandings, she lends nuance to our understanding of norms and of the power and limits of United Nations advocacy in African and other contexts. This book will interest students, practitioners, and scholars of international law and human security. * Charli Carpenter, University of Massachusetts-Amherst *
What makes for effective gender policy in postconflict countries? Medie tackles this question, drawing on a wealth of evidence from Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. Through a carefully constructed argument, she explores the nature of the interplay between international and domestic pressures and how they resulted in specialized police units (and other such mechanisms) to deal with violence against women. This book will be of great interest to scholars of international organizations, gender and politics, peacebuilding, and Africa. * Aili Mari Tripp, University of Wisconsin-Madison *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190922962
Author Peace A. Medie
Format Hardback
Page Count 252
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 499g
Dimensions(mm) 160mm * 236mm * 23mm