Description
Since the German government announced, in its fall 2021 coalition agreement, that it was adopting a feminist foreign policy there has been much debate about what this will look like. Not only is Germany, unlike Sweden for example, not known as a (global) promoter of gender equality, it’s foreign policy (establishment) has traditionally been dominated by men, though its current foreign minister, Anna-Lena Baerbock, is a woman . Additionally, in response to the escalating Russian aggression in Ukraine, German chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a Zeitenende (turning point) in German security policy including an significant increase in military spending, which seems contrary to feminist approaches on foreign and security policy. This paper evaluates these recent German initiatives, also in relation to (German) civil society proposals for what a feminist foreign policy should look like and, drawing also on feminist research on foreign policy and security studies, proposes possible avenues for a comprehensive German approach to a feminist foreign and security policy.
