Research
Feminist foreign policy
Feminist foreign policy has increasingly gained political salience worldwide, with more than 15 states having adopted the label ‘feminist’ for their foreign policies. But what does feminist foreign policy mean? Does it change how we understand and practice foreign policy? Or does it reproduce existing inequalities, hierarchies, and power relations?
I am interested in exploring these questions, with a focus on the German feminist foreign policy.
Diplomacy and gender, race, and class
Diplomacy and its institutions are shaped by gender, race, and class. Gender, race, and class affect who can access diplomatic spaces, what kind of work people do, and diplomatic careers more broadly. Gender, race, and class also influence how diplomacy is practiced and who we recognise as a diplomat.
I am interested in exploring how diplomatic institutions such as the German Federal Foreign Office are gendered, classed, and raced, and how this has changed over time.
Everyday knowledge production in foreign policy
Who makes foreign policy, and how? Although we often focus on visible state representatives, it is not only them who engage in foreign policy but a broad range of actors: diplomats, civil servants, academics, civil society actors, and many more.
I am interested in exploring how different actors engage in knowledge production on foreign policy, and how they do so in and through their everyday work.
Dissertation project
Producing feminist foreign policy in the everyday: An institutional ethnography of the German Federal Foreign Office
King’s College London, submitted October 2024.
Germany adopted a feminist foreign policy in December 2021, and the Federal Foreign Office has since been tasked with developing, implementing, and practicing the policy. Guidelines on feminist foreign policy were published in March 2023, following a consultation process and the creation of a dedicated department in the ministry. The development process raised many questions around the meaning of feminist foreign policy, but also brought an oft-neglected group of knowledge producers to the fore: diplomats and other foreign policy practitioners. This project explores their knowledge production on feminist foreign policy through an institutional ethnography.
Specifically, it is interested in how feminist foreign policy is produced as it is: which objectified forms of knowledge and consciousness organise people’s practices around feminism and foreign policy in the Foreign Office? And which meanings are attached to feminist foreign policy in the first place?
Answering these questions sheds light on the broader power relations shaping foreign policymaking today, in Germany and beyond. It also allows us to critically interrogate the transformative potential of feminist foreign policy, including avenues for institutional and foreign policy change. Hence, the findings of this project are useful for anyone working on feminist politics and institutional change, be it in academia, civil society, activism, or as practitioner.