Contesting Feminist Power Europe: Is Feminist Foreign Policy Possible for the EU?

Abstract

Since 2014, several European Union (EU) member states have adopted their own versions “Feminist Foreign Policy” (FFP). Increasingly, feminist bureaucrats, politicians, activists, and scholars are calling for the EU to do the same. This article critically scrutinises claims to the feminist actorsness of the EU by introducing the analytical concept of Feminist Power Europe (FPE). In employing FPE as a lens, it examines whether the EU can adopt a FFP and that upholds transformative potential of feminism. Undertaking a critical content analysis of key documents, we identify three overarching feminist frames that emerge in the EU’s external relations policies: 1. Liberal; 2. Intersectional; 3. Postcolonial. We demonstrate that the EU’s propensity for a transformative feminist foreign policy is limited by the setup of global politics and the main drivers of European integration, which continue to be situated in a traditionally masculine environment and are defined by prevailing hierarchies of colonialism and racism. In undertaking this work, we highlight the constraints of advocating for the EU to adopt a FFP. The paper concludes by cautioning against the uncritical deployment of ‘feminism’ in foreign policy articulation within an FPE configuration that excludes reflexivity about the EU’s external relations vision and indeed, its practice.