Feminist Foreign Policy within the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union

In 2014, the concept of feminist foreign policy was introduced in Sweden. This represents an important milestone in terms of foreign policy objectives, as it brings into focus issues related to achieving gender equality, strengthening women’s representation, protecting women’s rights and generally overcoming gender stereotypes. Eventually, this policy has become a phenomenon supported by an increasing number of international actors. Among these actors is the European Union, which in recent years, specifically in the framework of its Common Foreign and Security Policy, has strengthened the representation of women not only at its headquarters in Brussels but also in the EU delegations; and furthermore, in 2020, the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP III) was published, which directly addresses the themes identified in the concept of feminist foreign policy. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to present specifically the liberal approach to feminist foreign policy and to investigate whether and how the European Union approaches this concept within its Common Foreign and Security Policy. Based on this aim, the research question is whether the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, including the European External Action Service, fulfils the characteristics of the liberal approach to feminist foreign policy?