Essays

Building Peace midst Conflict: My Journey in South Sudan’s Path Towards Elections 

by Lona James Luduro Elia This essay was selected for publication as part of the War Prevention Initiative’s Essay Un-contest on Peaceful Elections.  As a young woman born in Yei who grew up in Juba, South Sudan, I have witnessed first-hand the tumultuous journey of my country’s quest for democracy. … Read more

Shiny Feminism

In this essay, Margherita Sofia Zambelli calls out “shiny feminism” and offers a set of questions, as tools, to analyze whether feminist foreign policies contribute to transformative change.

How to Better Define a Feminist Foreign Policy

In this essay, Padmini Das offers three strategies for how to better define and implement a feminist foreign policy.

From the Cuban Missile Crisis to Russia’s War in Ukraine: Strategic Empathy as Feminist Foreign Policy

In this essay, Samara Shaz outlines how a feminist foreign policy should replace brinkmanship with strategic empathy in order to end wars and prevent further loss of human life.

Right to Choice and the Hijab: Call for International Legal Reform

In this essay, Raghavi Purimetla and Amukta Sistla envision how a feminist foreign policy can integrate with international legal frameworks to protect women’s rights around the world.

Photo credit: Forest Starr and Kim Starr

“From Victims to Leaders”: Let the Silenced Speak – Climate Change through the Lens of Feminist Foreign Policy

In this essay, Shrinwanti Mistri argues for climate justice as a core feature of feminist foreign policy, and for centering those most impacted and marginalized by the global climate crisis in decision-making processes about how to address it.

The Feminist Revolution: An Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Militarist Case for Rethinking Foreign Policy

In this essay, Irina Militaru argues that a feminist foreign policy must be anti-capitalist.

The War Within

In this essay, Morgan Shier intimately links the experience of daily life with a call for policies that recognize human multidimensionality, intersectionality, and interconnectedness.

The Case for a Feminist Domestic Policy for Mexico 

In this essay, Rocío Magali Maciel calls for a feminist domestic policy for Mexico—in addition to the country’s feminist foreign policy—to address violence against women.

The Girl Next Door: How Local Individuals Can Affect Global Policy

In this essay, Isobel Dodd argues that addressing domestic misogyny must be a part of a feminist foreign policy to strengthen state security.

Unsettling Feminist Foreign Policy and Aotearoa New Zealand

In this essay, Angela Wilton argues that a “feminist” foreign policy would be an anti-feminist act in Aotearoa New Zealand without co-creation and co-governance with Indigenous peoples.