idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
When the German Foreign Ministry launched its guidelines on "Feminist Foreign Policy" (FFP) in March 2023, reactions were split. Advocates welcomed the promised shift from "masculine" conceptions of foreign policy towards a more human-centric and inclusive foreign policy; one that has the potential to encompass marginalised subjects and place their experiences at the centre of foreign policy conduct. Sceptics criticise the guidelines, though, for being vague and inconclusive – especially amid the current global crises of the war against Ukraine and rising authoritarianism ‒ that could challenge this new direction in German foreign policy.
What exactly does a feminist viewpoint mean for Germany’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan, Iran, and Ukraine, countries mentioned specifically in the foreword to the guidelines? Iran has been undergoing a revolutionary process since September 2022 with women and minorities fighting for their basic human rights. From heightened gender-based violence to widespread food insecurity, Ukrainian women have disproportionately suffered as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to rage on. Women have been marginalised in Afghanistan ever since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 meanwhile. How can an FFP reconcile human rights issues with Realpolitik and navigate around the inherent contradictions here? For instance, preventing a nuclear Iran and containing migration flows from Afghanistan to Europe have largely dominated the mode of engagement with the latter two countries despite the demands of civil society. To what extent is a German FFP able to change, then, the "rules of the game" and make foreign policy more inclusive and humane in practice?
In this GIGA Forum, experts address these key questions. We discuss possibilities as well as obstacles regarding Germany’s FFP and how a more sustainable approach can be established here, one where human rights and human security are at the heart of foreign policy decision-making.
Speakers:
Hamid Talebian is a Doctoral Researcher at the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies and at the Department of History of Universität Hamburg.
Hila Limar is the Chairperson of Visions for Children e.V., an organisation focusing on educational projects and emergency aid in Afghanistan.
Niklas Balbon is a Research Associate at the the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin.
Barbara Mittelhammer is a Policy Analyst focusing on human security, women, peace and security, and feminist foreign policy.
Moderator:
Diba Mirzaei is a Doctoral Researcher at the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies.
Information on participating / attending:
The participation is free of charge, but registration is required.
Date:
09/13/2023 18:00 - 09/13/2023 19:30
Registration deadline:
09/13/2023
Event venue:
GIGA, Neuer Jungfernstieg 21 (room 243) and online
20354 Hamburg
Hamburg
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars, all interested persons
Email address:
Relevance:
international
Subject areas:
Politics, Social studies
Types of events:
Seminar / workshop / discussion
Entry:
08/17/2023
Sender/author:
Verena Schweiger
Department:
Fachabteilung Kommunikation
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event74948
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
