Building Peace, Rebuilding Patriarchy

Melissa Johnston has penned what will surely be an instant classic in the fields of peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. Through careful fieldwork, Johnston shows that international peacebuilders in Timor-Leste, in some cases knowingly and in other cases ignorantly, carefully rebuilt and strengthened the systems of patriarchy. As a result, not only women, but the nation of Timor-Leste itself, are in a worse situation because of the international community's peacebuilding intervention. The 'local turn' in peacebuilding is revealed by Johnston as a deal with the devil of women's subordination, with all the negative consequences thereof for the whole society. It's time to ask who really gets what from international peacebuilding efforts. Highly recommended. * Valerie M. Hudson, University Distinguished Professor, Texas A&M University *
Melissa Johnston's tour de force study of post-conflict Timor-Leste explains why peacebuilding interventions frequently fail to achieve their intended outcomes-especially their aspirations for gender justice. While liberal rights-based reforms are well intended and the local peacebuilding turn provides hybrid alternatives, structural feminist political economy analysis illuminates how unjust gendered divisions of labor and power are perpetuated by both cultural traditions and neoliberal mechanisms of aid and finance. Fundamentally, Johnston exposes the material relations that reinforce patriarchal power in a post-conflict society and the gendered violence that cements it. Her analysis is of major relevance to myriad post-conflict interventions, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Ukraine and Myanmar, and should therefore be read widely! * Jacqui True, Director of the Gender, Peace and Security Centre, Monash University *
Drawing from extensive fieldwork, Johnston sheds light on the dynamics of post-conflict reforms in Timor-Leste. This rich, humane, and compelling account describes how the post-conflict period has been dominated by a coalition of militarized and patriarchal elites, to whom peacebuilders have made numerous concessions at women's expense. Furthermore, she deftly weaves together the connections between gender relations, class, and kinship in the country. This book is a compelling contribution to a growing literature. * Hilary A. Matfess, Assistant Professor of International Studies, University of Denver *