Feminist Foreign Policy vs Militarisation

Doors will open at 5:00 PM. The dialogue session will commence promptly at 5:30 PM and will continue until 7:00 PM.

Nearly three decades after the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action and 25 years since the adoption of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, various states have begun to enact feminist foreign policies (FFP) that seek to elevate gender equality across foreign policy domains. In September 2023, 20 countries convened as an FFP+ group at the UN General Assembly's 78th session to advocate for a gender equality and peace agenda through the FFP framework.

Yet at the same time as feminist agendas in global politics are advancing, we are witnessing a surge in defence spending and militarisation, partly triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Feminist scholarship on international relations tend to regard increased defence spending with the perpetuation of patriarchal norms and masculinist approaches to conflict resolution that counteract the very substance of a feminist agenda to foreign policy.

This panel aims to scrutinise these developments and contradictions from a feminist peace perspective. It will critically discuss instances like Germany and Australia, where feminist-informed strategies were employed during a time of heightened militaristic sentiments. The discussion will also navigate the complexities of defending state borders from a feminist perspective during conflicts such as in Ukraine and Afghanistan, evaluating the impact of feminist foreign policy on peace promotion and the inherent challenges in defining peace within feminist praxis.

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AIIA Victoria gratefully acknowledges the Walter Mangold Trust Fund for its ongoing support of our young members.