Description
How can we work towards a better future? What does it entail? In the past decade we have experienced multiple unexpected shocks that have shifted how we relate to each other in our respective societies. Yet regardless, we come together, even if along the dividing lines, around shared aspirations of a future yet to come. By theorizing politics of aspiration, this paper aims to introduce hope, imagination and dreams as part of international political negotiation of the collective Future. Future, in this context, is understood as a ‘cultural fact’ (Appadurai 2013) produced through social relations. The article interrogates the UN Secretary General’s ‘Our Common Agenda’ proposal 5 to ‘place women and girls at the centre’ from a regional perspective by analyzing the African Union’s (AU) emerging Positive Masculinities agenda. President of DR Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, is the Champion of the United Nations HeForShe campaign and hosted the 1st AU’s Men’s Conference on Positive Masculinities in Kinshasa. The AU is hosting the 2nd Men's Conference, complete with civil society consultations, in November 2922. Through this case I explore the different types of political work that go into generating shared aspirations and future visions around gender and masculinity. Theoretically, the article develops ‘politics of aspiration’ as a collective political practice of future-crafting which entails concrete actors and practices in international governance. In doing so, I bring forth the ‘dark side’ of aspirational politics (Finnemore and Jurkovich 2020) and the shortcomings of a politics where practices of forging shared visions of future are highly bureaucratic, performative, and top-down.
