In recent years, numerous governments have adopted a “feminist foreign policy”, a contested effort to bring about a paradigm shift in how their country engages with the rest of the world. In this public panel discussion, experts from government and academia will address various facets of feminist foreign and development policy, drawing on the experiences of Germany and other countries.
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Numerous governments around the world want to pursue feminist goals in their foreign and development policy, including the German government. However, this paradigm shift is controversial. The question arises as to how much added value feminist principles actually bring to issues of war and peace. There is also a danger that development policy will become overloaded with normative considerations, which partners in the Global South often resist.
The trailblazer, Sweden, adopted a feminist foreign policy (FFP) in 2014. It was followed by a range of countries, including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Slovenia, and Spain. In Germany, the current traffic light coalition (“Ampel”) also established a feminist development policy alongside a feminist foreign policy. After the election of a new government in 2022, Sweden tellingly became the first country to rescind its feminist foreign policy.
The panel, open to the general public, will address various facets of feminist foreign and development policy. What are the core principles of an FFP, including a feminist development policy? Has there been a concrete, practical impact of adopting an FFP? Or does an FFP mainly repackage existing practices? Does the establishment of an FFP increase the risk that foreign and development policy will be characterised by double standards? Four experts from government and academia will contribute their perspectives on these aspects and related questions.
The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A session with members of the audience. Afterwards, finger food and refreshments will be served, allowing for informal discussions and networking among participants and attendees.
The organisers of the panel are Stephen Brown, Professor of Political Science at the University of Ottawa and current Senior Fellow at the College, and Tobias Debiel, Professor of International Relations and Development Policy at the University of Duisburg-Essen and Deputy Director of the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF).
Moderator: Patricia Rinck | Researcher, Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen
Panellists:
Patricia Rinck is a researcher at the Chair of International Relations and Development Policy at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Her research focuses on feminist perspectives on peacebuilding, statebuilding and development policy. She holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Duisburg-Essen and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding.
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University of Duisburg-Essen
Angela Heucher is a senior evaluator and team leader at the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval). At DEval, she has contributed to evaluations on gender equality in post-conflict contexts, on human rights in private sector and financial system development and on sustainable supply chains in the textile sector. Currently, she is leading an evaluation on multilateral development cooperation. Her background is in political and social science, and she holds a PhD from the University of Potsdam.
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DEval
Karoline Faerber is a PhD researcher at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Her research interests include feminist foreign policy; diplomacy and gender, race, and class; diplomatic institutions and institutional change; and everyday knowledge production in / on foreign policy. Karoline’s current research project interrogates the meaning and everyday knowledge production of feminisms and feminist foreign policy in the German context. For more information on the project and a list of publications, please see her profile:
Stephen Brown is a professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa (Canada), where he is also affiliated with the School of International Development and Global Studies. His research focuses mainly on the intersection of domestic and international politics. He is now primarily carrying out research on international LGBTQI+ rights. His latest project is on how people in some African countries, such as Botswana, Mauritius, and Kenya, use domestic courts to try to force their governments to decriminalise same-sex relations. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities.
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Theresa Herbold is senior policy officer at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Working in the unit Food and Nutrition Security, Fisheries, she is in charge of food and nutrition security, rural youth employment and gender equality in agri-food systems. Previously, she was fellow of the postgraduate programme at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and part of a research programme investigating the role of the financial market in a green and just transition in South Africa. She holds Master's degrees in Agricultural Economics and Crop Sciences from the University of Hohenheim.
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BMZ
Prof. Stephen Brown
University of Ottawa (Canada) | Political Science
E-mail: stephen.brown@college-uaruhr.de
Stephen Brown is a professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, where he is also affiliated with the School of International Development and Global Studies. His research focuses mainly on the intersection of domestic and international politics. He has published on democratisation, political violence, peacebuilding and transitional justice/rule of law in Angola, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Rwanda. He has conducted research on foreign aid in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mongolia, and Peru, as well as on global COVID-19 vaccine inequities. He is now primarily carrying out research on international LGBTQI+ rights. He is completing a research project on international actors’ efforts to defend the rights of sexual and gender minorities in the Global South. His latest project is on how people in some African countries, such as Botswana, Mauritius, and Kenya, use domestic courts to try to force their governments to decriminalise homosexuality. He has been a visiting scholar at universities and research institutes in Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Website
Prof. Dennis Dijkzeul
Ruhr University Bochum, Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) | Conflict and Organisation Research
E-mail: dennis.dijkzeul@rub.de
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Prof. Tobias Debiel
University of Duisburg-Essen | Institute for Development and Peace (INEF), Deputy Director
E-mail: tobias.debiel@uni-due.de
Tobias Debiel is Professor of International Relations and Development Policy at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) and Deputy Director of the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF). His research interests are: state fragility and violent conflict; post-conflict peacebuilding; global governance and international intervention; development policy in war-torn societies; sanctions and geopolitics.
Selected Publications:
Website