Suchergebnisse

Engagement with the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda by military actors has caused concern among some of its civil society advocates. For example, NATO has adopted the WPS agenda as an increasingly visible part of its self-narrative. Yet what had distinguished NATO's engagement with WPS from many other actors is that it came without civil society involvement. The establishment of a Civil Society Advisory Panel (CSAP) on WPS in 2014 is therefore highly significant for both NATO and the WPS agenda. Despite this, the efficacy of such consultation is not clear-cut nor its potential to mitigate militarised understandings of WPS and support transformative engagement with the agenda, particularly given the wariness of some civil society to engage with NATO. Drawing on interviews with civil society, this article interrogates their perceptions of NATO in order to understand the potential of such engagements to support transformative understandings of WPS and more broadly the efficacy of civil society engagement with military institutions. In so doing, it examines how such consultation adds to our understanding of NATO as an institution of international hegemonic masculinity.

Abstract
Sweden was the first state to adopt a Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) in 2014, drawing on its state feminist tradition and support for the United Nations' Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Yet following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and Sweden's move to seek NATO membership—abandoning its policy of non-alignment—a gendered silence on FFP pervaded. Significantly, this therefore predated the official abandonment of FFP following the election of a new government in October 2022. NATO membership was viewed as incompatible with FFP. Yet, NATO has long sought to project itself as a gender-just actor, including through engagement with the WPS agenda culminating in its inclusion in the 2022 Strategic Concept. Further, Sweden—as a NATO partner—had been a stalwart of the alliance's work on WPS. This article contributes to understanding the role of gendered silences in shaping strategic narratives, in this case concerning Sweden's NATO membership bid. It provides insight for policy-makers and diplomats on the impact gendered silence can have on the wider efficacy of FFP and WPS, even during processes such as NATO enlargement which might otherwise be viewed as 'gender neutral', particularly when imbued with urgency.

Summary
The 2020 UN Security Council (SC) elections concluded during a historical period defined by the global COVID-19 pandemic. As officials scrambled to organise a socially distanced election, the final stage of the campaigns was forced into the digital realm. To bolster candidate states' chances of being elected to the SC, digital diplomacy became the primary mode of communication. Here we focus on the SC campaigns of Canada, Ireland and Kenya, which were defined by 'digital celebrity diplomacy'. U2 and Celine Dion supported the national campaigns of Ireland and Canada, while Kenya drew on the recognition of a number of celebrity athletes to bolster its campaign's national brand. Thus, we explore the convergence of celebrity and digital diplomacy in these SC campaigns, contributing to new understandings of the use of celebrity in transforming the projection and reception of strategic narratives when integrated with digital diplomacy during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Angelina Jolie's high-profile visit to NATO in 2018 signals a move to brand the alliance's strategic narrative within the language of celebrity through engagement with popular culture. The partnership represents a significant change in the alliance's approach to global security. It also builds on a shift in NATO's self-narrative through the advocacy of gender justice related to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Rather than fading into the background, NATO appears to be pursuing the limelight for the purpose of 'awareness raising' as a tool to implement the WPS agenda. Drawing upon feminist scholarship on the WPS agenda, NATO, and research on celebrity humanitarianism and politics, we provide a critical study of this change in NATO's strategic narrative, through the analysis of visual and textual material related to Jolie's visit to NATO. Our focus is on the significance of this partnership and its contribution to legitimising the alliance's self-defined 'military leadership' in the area of conflict-related sexual violence. While Jolie's visit to NATO opened the alliance to public scrutiny it also symbolised a form of militarism, surrounded by orchestrated visual representations. As such, it only marginally disrupted the militarist logic present in NATO's wider WPS engagement.

AbstractThe impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland (NI) is now well established; however, less attention has been given to the impact on women, despite the applicability of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. In this policy commentary, we detail the impact Brexit has had on the issue of violence against women in NI. This is timely, given that the NI Executive Office has developed an Ending Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategic Framework, of which the adoption was identified as a priority on the resumption of the NI Assembly in February 2024. In addition to the repercussions of 'Brexit politics' resulting in the suspension of Stormont, which stymied the adoption of the strategy, we examine what has been lost in terms of funding, data collection, benchmarking and legal protections, all of which contribute to addressing VAWG in NI. We conclude with policy points to address the issues arising.

AbstractThis article makes the case for a feminist (re‐)imagination of planetary politics in the context of the normative power approach and Manners' opening article in this special section. Arguing for an urgent turn to a politics that embraces the whole of the planet, we ask: How can we build processes and political structures that equip us with what is needed to manage those tests now faced by the planet? We apply a critical feminist lens to argue that the potential of a normative power approach in realising a planetary politics, so challenging anthropocentrism, can only be fulfilled if political and societal actors embrace four 'Es': ethic of care, empathy, emancipation and equity. The cosmopolity envisioned is premised on our ability to 'see', 'hear', question – perhaps even break with – the disciplining and bounding effects of the disciplines that feed into European studies.

This intervention focuses on the impact of the global crisis resulting from the COVID‐19 pandemic on existing racialized and gendered inequalities within the academy and in particular our discipline of Politics and International Relations. We argue that responses to recent crises within the academy have exacerbated ontological insecurity among minoritized groups, including women. When coupled with increased caring responsibilities the current crises call into question who can be creative and innovative, necessary conditions for knowledge production. While University managers seek to reassure University staff of the temporary nature of COVID‐19 interventions, we argue that the possibilities for progressive leaps at a later state of institutional regeneration is unlikely when efforts to address structural inequalities are sidelined and crisis responses are undertaken which run counter to such work.

First paragraph: The UK, at present, is characterised by a sense of ontological insecurity. Christopher S. Browning (2018) describes this type of insecurity as 'fundamentally destabilising and challenging established worldviews, routines and core conceptions of selfhood' (2018, 337). This is not a new phenomenon but one highlighted by years of multiple and intersecting crises, the most recent of which is the Covid-19 pandemic. The impact of these many crises is felt unevenly. The crises are themselves deeply gendered, racialised and classed, with a disproportionate impact on those living with disabilities and the elderly. As the latest crisis unfolded, a preoccupation with mortality rates fuelled a heightened and persistent state of anxiety, and raises questions about governance, leadership and security (Cuthbertson 2021). The UK government especially comes up short when contrasted with other states who have controlled the virus through effective leadership. Leadership practice is not 'one size fits all'. As the management of the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrates, effective leadership is contextual and requires detailed understanding of socio-cultural factors but also attention needs to be given to the values expressed by the leaders. For instance, compassion and empathy have been key drivers for New Zealand, whereas transparency has underscored South Korea's approach. What these cases have in common is an effective approach to crisis management that helped to contain the overall death toll.