Temporality and the discursive dynamics of the Rwandan National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security from 2009 and 2018

Abstract

The African Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda is supported by a well-developed architecture. However, the problem-solving language of the Continental Results Framework to monitor state implementation may impede critical gender discourses and practices. This article therefore examines the discursive repetitions and ruptures across Rwanda’s National Action Plans (NAPs) of 2009 and 2018, with specific attention to the dynamics of discursive relations between the two NAPs, and examining whether the language offers openings for alternative interpretations of dominant Rwandan WPS discourses. Our temporal reading of the NAP discourses is grounded in the idea that time as well as learning over time is non-linear, multiple/fluid, connected to a particular space, linked to processes rather than products of repetition and rupture, and representative of an interlocking of pasts, presents, and futures. Three categories of change–namely, “dominant,” “residual,” and “emergent”–are used to structure the analysis. The empirical evidence shows that the categories are not mutually exclusive: the new NAP reflects more of the same dominant discourses, but with some minor qualitative and critical shifts, as well as isolated opportunities for creating a new perspective on WPS.