The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Karin Aggestam

Karin Aggestam

Professor | Director of CMES | Scientific Coordinator of MECW

Karin Aggestam

Feminist digital diplomacy and foreign policy change in Sweden

Author

  • Karin Aggestam
  • Annika Bergman Rosamond
  • Elsa Hedling

Summary, in English

This article analyses how the launch of Sweden’s feminist foreign policy marked a change in Sweden’s digital diplomatic efforts. It draws on three strands of research: digital diplomacy, foreign policy analysis (FPA) and feminist scholarship. Informed by FPA, the article explores the relevance of political leadership, bureaucratic agency and political context as drivers of policy change, and, specifically, Sweden’s feminist digital diplomacy. The article provides an empirical case analysis of Sweden’s foreign policy change and conduct of digital diplomacy during the period 2006–2020. It draws on documents available on the official websites of the Government Offices of Sweden and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including sites such as SwedenAbroad and Swedish Foreign Policy Stories. The article concludes that Sweden acted on a window of opportunity in global politics, which advanced a novel feminist digital diplomacy. Sweden’s competitive edge was based on a strong transformative political leadership in foreign policy, state feminism and an early engagement of digital diplomatic management of its state image online.

Department/s

  • Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
  • MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World
  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2022

Language

English

Pages

314-324

Publication/Series

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

Volume

18

Issue

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Topic

  • Political Science

Status

Published

Project

  • Digital Diplomacy in a Turbulent Global World

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1751-8040