Gender and corporeality in civilian crisis management: whose bodies matter? Analysing the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina s operational response to sex trafficking

Abstract

The European Union's peacebuilding efforts have rarely been studied through a gendered or corporeal lens, therefore little is known about how these concepts affect peacebuilding responses. This study seeks to remedy such shortcomings by applying both a gendered and a corporeal lens to the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina's operational response to sex trafficking, with the aim of uncovering a corporeal understanding of whose bodies matter to EUPM, and ultimately why these bodies matter - the 'why' referring to how power relations operate between the hegemonic authority of EUPM and its subordinated subjects. Integrating gender into this corporeal investigation allows for the gendered consequences of EUPM's response to become visible. In line with the feminist positioning of this research, bodies are thought to be gendered in a binary manner in order to fulfil EUPM's role not only as a hegemonic authority, but also as a hyper-masculinised authority perpetuating gendered inequalities to maintain its dominant societal position.

Adopting a post-positivist approach to this research, the epistemology of particular gendered and corporeal meanings is studied using complementary discourse analytical tools, most prominently that of Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory. Theoretical underpinning is provided by Judith Butler's gender performativity theory, as well as Michel Foucault's theory of sexuality and his concept of governmentality. Using these components, this study finds that the bodies mattering most to EUPM are those that resemble EUPM's own hegemonic masculine authority - that is, local male bodies performing typically hyper-masculinised acts of protection, aggression, activity and capability. Female bodies, whether positioned in active and public authority roles or trapped in a private and inferior societal space, never matter as much due to their innate sexual disorderliness, and other feminised traits of subordination. However, this does not mean that these bodies are corporeally framed as two distinct groups - varying levels of power, agency and knowledge interact between the subordinated (and feminised) subjects of EUPM and its own hegemonic masculine authority. This relationship fuels meaning production, norm fulfilment and ultimately secures EUPM's position as the primary caregiver, protector and peacebuilder in the fragile post-conflict state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.