Women, Armed Conflict, and Language – Gender, Violence and Discourse

In this article, Laura Shepherd argues that post-structural theories of language are important for policy-makers and practitioners because, in order to avoid unconsciously reproducing forms of oppression that policies seek to redress, policy-makers and practitioners need to know not only what a policy means but also how it means what it does. To do this, Shepherd first outlines a post-structural approach to discourse that she argues facilitates particularly useful kinds of analyses of policy documents. Then, she illustrates this approach by analysing Chapter 5.10 of the United Nations Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards, which is titled ‘Women, gender, and DDR’.