PEACEKEEPING AND PEACE RESEARCH - MENS AND WOMENS WORK

Peacekeeping has become more than truce maintenance by neutral soldier s pledged to use force only in self defense. It now includes humanitar ian relief, human rights monitoring, civil policing, demobilization, e lections, collection of evidence for war crimes trials, and sometimes economic and institutional development. Its supporters acknowledge the existence of evil and the need for violence as some peace activists d o not. Its participants, though, are not distanced from the applicatio n of force as are strategic decision-makers. Peacekeeping is an experi mental process which seeks to use a potential for force, the (near) re nunciation of force, and citizen consent to forge a peace which does n ot require third-party supervision. Civilians and women are essential participants in this new peacekeeping, but so far they have mostly lef t the field to the military and to male officials.