Foreign Policy

State of the Union address: Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second term in office

In her address, European Commission President von der Leyen missed the opportunity to develop bold proposals for the future. This contribution analyses her informal bid for a second term in office by looking at her thematic focuses.

By Roderick Kefferpütz, Lisa Sandtner, Anton Möller, Zora Siebert , Melanie Bernhofer and Hannah Goerlich

Practicing Feminist Foreign Policy in the Everyday: A Toolkit

Explainer

Feminist foreign policy is emerging as a new paradigm in international relations. The concept raises expectations of a more peaceful and just foreign policy, but its theoretical dimension and practical implementation are often not clearly defined. This toolkit tries to close this gap and clarify key terms of feminist foreign policy, as well as outline the practical application of the feminist approach to international diplomacy, to security, environmental, development, trade and migration policy.

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Is the EU a feminist actor?

Commentary

The inclusion of feminist principles is an important progressive step in the EU’s external relations policymaking. A result of this inclusion has been the development of gender equality policies aimed at conflict situations and in international development assistance. Arguably, the EU is a leader in gender equality within the foreign policy arena. Yet, while the integration of feminism has supported concrete gender equality policies, the narrow interpretation of feminism undermines its transformative potential and highlights coherency gaps in the EU’s approach.

By Toni Haastrup

Between Hard and Soft Power

E-paper

Although political debates were for the most part overshadowed by the Corona crisis at the beginning of 2021, this E-Paper wants to address the question of how the European Union could find its place in a more competitive world. The buzzwords of this debate were the concepts of strategic autonomy and strategic sovereignty of the EU.

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21st Foreign Policy Conference

Dossier

Worldwide we are witnessing the return to great power rivalry, and – as a reaction – the calls for strategic sovereignty of the European Union are gaining strength. But how can the EU navigate through a more competitive world and maintain its core values at the same time? These questions are at the core of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's 21st Foreign Policy Conference.

Multilateralism 2.0

E-paper

It is time to upgrade the current debate on multilateralism, to make it greener and more global. We tried to do just this at our 20th Foreign Policy Conference, which took place in Berlin on 30-31 January 2020. This reader provides some insights into our major topics, from trade to climate to security policy, with perspectives from South Africa, India, Brazil, the US and the EU.