Indonesia Proves Women, Peace And Security Agenda Can Diffuse Beyond The West.

A Western Agenda, or a Global One? 

Because liberal feminism is often seen as rooted in Western political traditions, its introduction elsewhere is frequently met with accusations of cultural colonialism by local communities. Accordingly, when United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was adopted in 2000—framing women’s participation in peace building and peacekeeping as a universal priority—it was met with significant skepticism. 

 

However, the case of Indonesia complicates this assumption. As the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, Indonesia not only adopted UNSCR 1325 but localized it through its National Action Plan (NAP), RAN P3AKS, in ways that reflect Islamic teachings, community needs, and national priorities. The country’s ability to integrate an international gender-equality agenda into a religious and culturally diverse society raises important questions about how global norms are adapted, translated, and made meaningful outside of Western contexts. Examining how and why Indonesia is succeeding matters because it challenges stereotypes about Muslim-majority societies, expands our understanding of norm diffusion, and offers lessons for other countries struggling to reconcile international gender frameworks with local values. 

 

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda 

Since the passage of UNSCR 1325, nine additional resolutions have been adopted to expand the original objective, forming what is now known collectively as the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Resting on four pillars, including Prevention, Protection, Participation, and Relief & Recovery, the WPS agenda is a call-to-action, spurring governments to protect and empower the population most marginalized by war and conflict: women. At both the communal and international levels, women are catalysts for peace, making female representation in peacebuilding and peacekeeping crucial. Locally, women in conflict zones are known to take on additional roles when men enter combat, acting as breadwinners while also securing necessities, medical attention, and education for their families and communities. Additionally, women initiate regional civil society activity and peace negotiations, creating space for the resolution of conflict. On the global scale, women are found to have a “civilizing effect” on male counterparts during peace negotiations, as they are more likely to consider at-risk populations and better respond to victims of sexual and gender-based violence. In fact, the Digital Cooperation Organization finds that peace agreements are more likely to last 15 years when women contribute significantly. Moreover, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, nations with greater gender equality are associated with a lower tendency towards violence, both internally and during interactions with other states.  

Making the Women, Peace and Security Agenda Indonesian 

Before Indonesia’s formal adoption of UNSCR 1325, conflict in the Aceh province of the northern region of the country spurred a first attempt at unofficial WPS localization. In response to gender violence enabled by the separatist movement, almost 500 Acehnese women gathered in a conference known as the Duek Pakat Inong Aceh (DPIA), resulting in 22 recommendations that formally demanded the participation of women in dialogue-based peace processes. The conference resulted in the creation of a women’s organization called Balai Syura, intended to carry out the recommendations outlined by participants. 

 

In 2014, Indonesia successfully institutionalized its first-generation WPS National Action Plan (NAP) (2014-2019), or RAN P3AKS I, through a presidential decree, PerPres No. 18. In this document, Aceh was identified as a priority region for WPS implementation—suggesting that Aceh’s specific gender-based challenges required a focused, localized policy approach.  

 

As a whole, the Indonesian NAP was explicitly designed to translate international WPS obligations into context-specific policy responses. Led by the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, RAN P3AKS created countrywide WPS standards, primarily by adapting the original agenda’s guiding pillars into an Indonesian context, namely Prevention, Handling, and Empowerment & Participation. From there, local ministries, female-led religious organizations, and women’s rights agencies prepared and implemented the obligations into Regional Action Plans for the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Children during Social Conflicts, or RAD P3AKS, tailored to the special circumstances of their provincial communities. In this way, the Indonesian Government executed a concentrated effort; though national guidelines were enacted, regional governments were encouraged to translate RAN P3AKS to their unique histories of violence, ensuring that UNSCR 1325 was meaningfully localized throughout the country. 

 

Lessons From Indonesia 

In a national report on the efficacy of RAN P3AKS I carried out by AMAN Indonesia and supported by the government, it was found that the plan was “an effective advocacy tool” for “women’s and children’s rights, especially in response to situations of social conflict.” Yet, there were still shortcomings. In particular, AMAN Indonesia reported that RAN P3AKS I’s implementation suffered coordination issues between the varying levels of government, sustainability problems, capacity gaps, and certain programs even maintained a patriarchal culture. Thus, when RAN P3AKS I expired in 2019, the government released a new WPS National Action Plan, RAN P3AKS II, approved in 2021 and valid until 2025. Created in tandem with civil society organizations, and with the faults of RAN P3AKS I in mind, this updated NAP outlined new focus areas intended to address issues like intolerance, radicalism, land disputes, indigenous people’s rights, and mis/disinformation, among other pertinent topics. The creation of RAN P3AKS II initiated explicit changes that continued to address local issues at their root, rather than repeating an ineffective agenda that did not fully support the needs of Indonesian women. 

 

While Indonesia is not representative of all Muslim-majority societies, its dense civil society networks and strong women-led religious groups make it a revealing case for examining how global gender norms can be localized beyond Western contexts. From women’s Quran circles to countrywide organizations like AMAN Indonesia, WPS norms were translated into Islamic concepts of justice, compassion, and communal responsibility. In particular, the Madrasah Perempuan Berkemajuan, or Women’s Progressive School, initiated by the female-led religious group ‘Aisyiyah, promotes “progressive Islam,” including gender inclusion, by teaching sulh (“peaceful settlement”), maslaha (“public good”), avoidance of takfiri (judging others, particularly non-believers), and rahmatan lil-‘alamin (“mercy to all creation). The School also teaches women to identify signs of radicalism within their families and communities, aligning with WPS goals like mediation, protection, tolerance, and prevention of gender-based violence. The adaptation of international gender norms into faith-based, morally digestible principles demonstrates that small-scale, grassroots movements can legitimize or translate “Western” ideals into local religious frameworks. This legitimation is critical, determining whether norms are accepted, implemented, and sustained in practice rather than remaining symbolic policy commitments.

Localization As Policy

 

For global gender governance, this outcome indicates that norm diffusion beyond the West is most effective when it prioritizes cultural resonance over formal adoption. Governments can take intentional steps to localize WPS norms through a bottom-up approach, partnering with religious or community actors and platforming grassroots intermediaries in strong religious communities. Similar to the Indonesian case, Jordan—another Muslim-majority country—found WPS success through two generations of the Jordanian National Action Plan (JONAP I and II). Community-level implementation, operationalized through domestic institutions and civil society partnerships, has encouraged community resilience, women’s local leadership, and female participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. A study by Al Hayat, a Jordanian civil society network, found that over 46% of people in Jordan rely on religious leaders as their primary source of information. For this reason, religious figures have been identified as key partners in countering radicalism and promoting women’s participation, particularly in JONAP II. Despite these similarities, JONAP operates within a context shaped by severe refugee pressures, humanitarian crises, and regional instability.

National Action Plans should also be adaptable based on the particular cultural contexts of specific regions, religions, or ethnic populations. This flexibility, in combination with a willingness to update WPS institutionalization as needed, will enable non-Western governments to follow the lead of Indonesia and move away from the rigid, one-size-fits-all WPS model. Indeed, it is crucial that the integration of UNSCR 1325 into traditional communities is not externally imposed but rather locally legitimate. Indonesia’s experience suggests that the future of the Women, Peace and Security agenda will depend not on its universality, but on its ability to be meaningfully localized.

Hannah Goodwin is a third-year political science and English student at Saint Louis University - Madrid. She is the President and Founder of the Feminist Club on campus, known as the "slufeminist", where she organizes initiatives in response to international gender-based issues. She is also the Treasurer of the Human Rights Club. Beyond campus, she serves as a Communications Officer for Politics4Her, a global, youth-led digital platform dedicated to gender inclusivity. Her research interests lie in gender equality and Southeast Asian affairs.

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To quote this article, please use the following reference:

Goodwin, H. (2026, March). Indonesia Proves Women, Peace And Security Agenda Can Diffuse Beyond The West. Observatory On Contemporary Crises. https://www.crisesobservatory.org/post/indonesia-proves-women-peace-and-security-agenda-can-diffuse-beyond-the-west