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Karin Aggestam

Karin Aggestam

Professor | Director of CMES | Scientific Coordinator of MECW

Karin Aggestam

The gender turn in diplomacy : a new research agenda

Author

  • Karin Aggestam
  • Ann Towns

Summary, in English

This article argues that the (re-)constitution of diplomacy is intimately linked to gender and the practices of exclusion and inclusion of women and men over time. While the big debates in both academia and among practitioners concern the change and continuity of diplomacy in the last hundred years, gender has received scant, if any, attention. The overarching aim of this article is therefore to advance a new research agenda, which can spur future gender studies and contribute to rethinking diplomacy. It presents an original narrative about three distinct bodies of diplomatic scholarly work that focus on (1) diplomatic history; (2) descriptive representation; and (3) gendered institutions. We conclude that first there is a need to move out of Europe and North America to provide greater focus on Africa, Asia and Latin America. Second, there is a need to move beyond the descriptive single case studies towards more systematic comparisons, which can trace change in institutional gender dynamics over time. Ethnographic work can provide novel insights to gendered micro-processes and the daily mundane institutional practices. Third, as part of the gender turn in the field of diplomacy international feminist theory can generate significant theoretical contributions to the transformation of diplomacy.

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2019

Language

English

Pages

9-28

Publication/Series

International Feminist Journal of Politics

Volume

21

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Topic

  • Gender Studies

Keywords

  • Diplomacy
  • gender
  • negotiation
  • Peace and Security
  • practice
  • Women

Status

Published

Project

  • Rethinking Peace Diplomacy and Foreign Policy

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1461-6742