Localization Of Women’s Rights In Afghanistan: Reception Of Initiatives Promoted By International Development Actors

The travelling of global norms and policies, and their adoption in the local context are inextricably linked with such a concept as localization. The concept of localization has brough local actors’ perspective and role to the fields of International Relations and policy studies, by arguing that local stakeholders can and do significantly modify global norm according to their local context. The thesis analyses on the case study of Afghanistan how such complex international norms and global social policies as women’s rights and empowerment are localized in the developing countries, and then perceived by local actors. The paper through the case study, implying discourse analysis and document analysis, aim to understand how international organizations (IO) translate women’s rights into local context, implying religious norms and traditions, in order to meet less resistance. After considering localization from the IOs’ perspective, what they do in order to be better welcomed by local citizens, the thesis concentrates on how local actors perceive these international initiatives on gender-related issues, by analyzing what contributes to the approval or rejection of promoted norms and policies.