Introduction

For over a century, feminists have advocated for women's participation in decision-making on war and peace to achieve a more just global order. There is today a growing recognition among states that promoting gender equality and the Women, Peace, Security (WPS) agenda as part of their foreign policies is not only useful for foreign aid and international development, but that such developments may also contribute to climate change policies to keep global warming below 2°C, to more inclusive trade, the stability of alliances, the prevention of conflict, terrorism and pandemics, and ultimately, the achievement of sustainable peace. At the same time, other powerful governments are contesting these ideas and fiercely resisting such foreign policy change. How can feminist scholarship advance the field of foreign policy analysis to understand contemporary foreign policy actions and challenges? A decade after states first adopted explicit pro-gender equality norms and/ or feminist foreign policy strategies, feminist and gender scholarship is now beginning to take off in the field of foreign policy analysis (FPA).

The overarching aim of the book is to provide the latest state-of-the-art in the study of gender, feminisms and foreign policy, and to advance the emerging subfield of feminist foreign policy analysis (FFPA). The volume presents new theories, novel concepts and empirical knowledge for this growing field of scholarship. It builds on innovations in feminist International Relations theory and FPA, both dynamic bodies of scholarship within International Relations (IR). Feminist IR theory is distinguished by its ‘plural and interdisciplinary theoretical orientation and multilevel approaches to method and empirical analysis’ (Aggestam and True, 2020: 147); while FPA is ‘multi-layered and conceptually complex, examining the many agents and institutions, cultures and identities, interests and perceptions that influence foreign policies’ in domestic politics and the international realm (Kaarbo and Thies, 2024: 2). In advancing FFPA, the book encompasses both feminist analysis of avowedly ‘feminist foreign policies’ and new feminist analyses of foreign policies on trade, defence, environment, disinformation, peacemaking and international development assistance. Moreover, it critically explores how diverse and contested gender and feminist approaches and strategies are put into practice across a range of countries’ foreign policy.

Gender and feminist strategies in foreign policy are often based on alternative understandings of power. Power politics does not guarantee peace nor can states bring about security and prosperity alone.