Making Feminist Foreign Policy Work? Hierarchies and Global Implementation Patterns.

Sweden’s declaration of its foreign policy to be “feminist” in 2014 generated surprise, interest and debate. Scholars, civil servants and activists have since sought to comprehend what “feminism” entails for foreign policy and whether the feminist foreign policy (FFP) was simply a re-branding of existing practice. This sabbatical project aims to finalize a monograph about the Swedish FFP based on my previous studies (Jezierska 2022; Jezierska & Towns 2021; Jezierska & Towns 2024; Towns, Bjarnegård & Jezierska 2023; Towns, Jezierska & Bjarnegård 2024) and ongoing research. The book will intervene in feminist international relations and foreign policy scholarship to focus on the implementation of FFP. Centering on Sweden, the book asks:

1. what, if anything, had become of the government’s policy statements when implemented in practice?
2. in the implementation process, how was the FFP shaped by and helped (re)produce or rework international hierarchies?

The book is coauthored with Ann Towns, professor at Gothenburg University, and is a grand statement summarizing three research projects (VR 2017-01426; VR 2021-01880; EBA 2021), which focused on various aspects of the Swedish FFP.