Conference Program

This paper examines feminist foreign policy, which aims to integrate the aim of gender equality across foreign policy. First adopted by Sweden in 2014 and followed by countries such as Canada (2017), France (2019), Mexico (2020), Spain (2021), Luxembourg (2021), Germany (2021) and Chile (2022), feminist foreign policy relies on gender-focused foreign policies and programs designed and implemented by governments that commit to women’s rights and gender equality. However, since states hold larger ownership over the form of feminist foreign policies and women’s movements are not largely included in the decision-making processes, the extent to which feminist foreign policy is imagined and applied has usually been very controversial. In the Global South countries, where the status of women and gender equality is painfully poor, the contradictions and tensions that emerge during the implementation of feminist foreign policy are more apparent. This paper will attempt to analyze the contradictions of this process through a comparative critical analysis of both Mexico and Chile’s contemporary feminist foreign policy agendas. Feminist foreign policy builds on strong women’s movements and the strategies advocated by feminists in both countries. Nevertheless, since both progressive governments have failed to improve their relationship with social movements, feminist foreign policy does little to advance the rights, representation, and resources (3Rs) of women in these countries. The paper argues that without the meaningful participation of women’s movements, feminist foreign policy would only be a discursive tool to give legitimacy to state policies.

In a World of Flux characterized by, among other things, the crisis of globalization and the growing asymmetries between the countries of the Global South, manifested in substantial differences in the levels of economic growth and development, financial capacity, technological development, democratic deficit, compliance with human rights, energy transition, etc., in addition to regional and global threats, it is necessary and indispensable to redefine foreign policy strategies so that they can generate synergies that benefit countries, reduce their asymmetries and, in parallel, increase their capacities as international actors. For this reason, the aim is to demonstrate, with some case studies (essentially Latin American) and providing alternative strategies and policies of regionalism and regional cooperation, that effective integration is an essential condition to increase the resilience levels of those countries that choose to implement foreign policy strategies aimed at cooperation with other actors, either within the closest geographical area (regionalism) or with fully constituted integration regimes (interregionalism and quasi-interregionalism). Specifically, reference will be made to the case of Mexico, assuming that it is a country that has chosen to establish cooperative links with other major international players, although this does not mean that its foreign policy is fully successful. For this reason, more appropriate strategies will be proposed according to the country's needs, what it can offer other actors, and what the latter can offer to Mexico.

Debates on the interactions between practitioners and academics in the discipline of International Relations (IR) have been addressed comprehensively by the literature. Different studies have analysed the relevance of IR research for policymaking and the importance of bridging the gap to benefit decision-making and academic analysis. However, the literature has mainly focused on the experience of countries in the global North, with less development in how this interaction takes place in peripheral countries and how it shapes policy decisions in the global South. This article aims to contribute to this literature on policy engagement in IR scholarship by filling this gap. Examining the specific case of Latin America contributes to understanding the relevance of this interaction for the development of autochthonous theoretical approaches and conceptualizations, and for the design and implementation of foreign policy strategies. It also contributes to understanding states’ behaviour and decision-making in Latin American countries; how to influence and shape national and regional dynamics on how to participate in international politics from the periphery.