This paper examines the transnationalisation of local women’s rights campaign in post-conflict settings from an ideational perspective. Despite the growing interest on the cognitive dimension of collective action through constructivist approaches such as the boomerang effect by which local activists get help from INGOs and transcend the borders of their domestic governments, the factors explaining the processes of (trans) formation of the ideas and ideologies and the solidarity ties initially created among the movement’s international and local actors have been less studied. In order to cover this gap, the paper sets out a theoretical model of identity boundaries stretching and adaptation in order to analyse the discursive construction of identity and subjectivity as political action. For so doing, the paper first develops the concept of rebound effect, that is, the point where the ideational boundaries between the thrower of the boomerang (issue entrepreneur) and the receiver (issue follower) are so impervious that the boomerang bounces back and never reaches its destination. Secondly, the paper uses the case study of the transnational advocacy campaign for the implementation of the UNSCR1325 on Women, Peace and Security in post-conflict in Burundi and Liberia in order to understand how what constitutes gender security is seen as a frame producing collective identities and demanding solutions at the global level in some cases and not leaving space for particularities, while in others is seen as a politics of “new localism”. Thirdly, the paper examines the conditions under which a local movement for gender security can delimit who is included in their transnational solidarity networks, set new terms for common solidarities, assert their autonomy from donors, and transform ideas and identities.
