Description
A few number of states in the international system have established a feminist foreign policy (FFP) that promises a change to the ways the foreign policy of the state is being conducted. The implementation of an FFP by states follows the new and still in flux international norm feminism. While feminist advocators have promoted the benefits of having a feminist agenda in foreign policy, the process by which countries decide and choose to adopt a feminist foreign policy remains unclear. Why do some states have chosen to adopt an FFP? How do domestic and international actors create and navigate the existing conditions to set up a feminist foreign policy? To what extent does a FFP induce change in the whole foreign policy of the state? Mapping out the process in terms of actors, conditions and contexts are key to understand how some states develop a new foreign policy area and deal with changing patterns in the foreign policy apparatus of the state. The decision of a new area of foreign policy is not exempt of political conflicts, and interests that can either facilitate or hamper the adoption of a FFP and thus explain a resultant central or peripherical importance in the foreign policy making process. This paper uses two different cases: one that has already developed and implemented a set of conceptions and practices of FFP such as Sweden, and another case in which recent domestic political transformations have created the necessary political space to adopt a FFP such as Chile.
