Norm Diffusion in African Peacebuilding: The Travel of UN Resolution 1325 Through Nigerian Institutions

This study analyses the process of international norm diffusion with specific focus on how United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security has travelled through Nigerian institutions, examining adaptations, resistances, and outcomes in the North Central and South South geopolitical zones. Norm diffusion theory, while well-developed in international relations, has rarely been applied to examine how global peace and security norms penetrate Nigerian subnational conflict management systems, offering an original contribution to both normative peace theory and Nigerian conflict studies. Employing a qualitative process-tracing methodology, data were collected through 60 elite interviews with diplomats, Ministry of Women Affairs officials, civil society advocates, traditional leaders, and peace practitioners who participated in or observed UNSCR 1325 implementation processes in Plateau, Rivers, and Delta states. Documentary analysis of Nigeria's National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 (2017-2020, 2022-2024 cycles), state-level adaptation documents, and international donor programming records was also conducted. The theoretical contribution is a contextualised norm diffusion model for Nigerian peacebuilding institutions that identifies localisation, contestation, and substitution as three primary mechanisms through which international gender-peace norms are adapted in Nigerian contexts. Findings reveal that UNSCR 1325 norms have achieved nominal discursive acceptance in Nigerian policy but face deep structural resistance at implementation, with traditional authority systems and security sector culture as primary sites of norm contestation. Recommendations include strengthening localisation support for UNSCR 1325 implementation, developing accountability mechanisms for Nigeria's National Action Plan, and funding norm entrepreneurship by credible indigenous women's peace advocates. Keywords: norm diffusion, UNSCR 1325, Nigeria, women peace security, peacebuilding norms.