Feminist approach to foreign policy - stakeholder engagement workshops: evidence report

2. Context

The Scottish Government’s 2021-2022 Programme for Government promised a new “global affairs framework … to guide Scotland’s international engagement, grounded in a values-based approach, and a feminist approach to foreign policy”.

The Scottish Government published a Background Note on its intended approach to feminist foreign policies in November 2022. This set out the initial three key areas of focus as a just transition to net zero, economic justice and peace – each underpinned by human rights and gender equality. The Scottish government also conducted preliminary research involving interviews with individuals who have knowledge of and experience in the field of feminist foreign policy. In parallel, Scotland’s International Development Alliance and the Scottish Council for Global Affairs were contracted to facilitate consultative workshops with a diverse range of stakeholders and experts in Scotland, the wider UK and the Global South and Global North to consider what a feminist approach might look like in practice and what it might mean for a sub-state, without a foreign policy remit, to develop a feminist approach to foreign policy.

This report synthesises the findings and recommendations emerging from this process. This section provides context: it presents some brief background on feminist foreign policies; sets out the powers of the Scottish Government on external relations; and reflects upon what the limits of Scottish Government powers mean for the development of a feminist approach to foreign policy.

What is feminist foreign policy?

At least 14 countries have declared the adoption of or intention to adopt a feminist foreign policy (widely referred to as an “FFP”).^[1] Sweden pioneered the idea in 2014, and developed an extensive FFP portfolio focusing on issues such as women’s rights defenders, women peace mediators, and gender perspectives on development finance.^[2] For countries with the most developed FFPs, some key features can be identified. Most follow the original Swedish approach in focusing on strengthening what it termed the “three Rs,” women’s rights, representation and resources, applying this approach across various foreign policy issues such as peace and security, climate change, international development and trade. Most adopt a human-rights-based approach, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health rights, sexual and gender-based violence, and women’s economic and political participation. FFPs also tend to encompass a commitment to multilateralism in global politics and a focus on policy coherence, such that there is consistency between policies at home and abroad.

FFPs can thus be said to represent an innovative and progressive approach to foreign policy, rooted in human rights. Yet FFPs formulated by governments to date tend to focus on addressing the gendered impacts of global dynamics such as war or climate breakdown, and ensuring the participation of women in existing power structures: working within, rather than transforming, existing global systems. Amid intensifying inequalities, pandemic- and austerity-induced poverty and precarity, eco-systems on the point of collapse, increased militarisation, record-breaking refugee numbers and endemic violence against women and girls, many feminists in civil society and academia argue that the goal of an FFP should not just be inclusion and equality within existing structures and the status quo, but changing those structures for the better.^[3] That is, an FFP should contribute to the systemic transformation of the root causes of inequalities and insecurities – competitive and militaristic international relations, an economic system organised around extracting profit from natural resources and labour, and patriarchal gender relations.

Scottish powers concerning foreign affairs

The Scotland Act (1998) states that “international relations, including relations with territories outside the United Kingdom, the European Union (and their institutions) and other international organisations, regulation of international trade, and international development assistance and cooperation are reserved matters”. This means that powers over defence and national security, foreign affairs, immigration and asylum, trade and industry – areas that are part of other countries’ FFPs – are reserved to the Government of the United Kingdom.

Notes on clauses to The Scotland Act 1998 explain that Scottish Ministers can communicate with other countries, regions, or international institutions so long as they do not purport to speak for the UK or to reach agreements which commit the UK. In addition, Scottish Ministers are not prevented from pursuing their interests internationally and Scottish Ministers can sign agreements that are not binding Treaties. Scottish Ministers may, under the 1998 Act, assist Ministers of the Crown with international relations, including international development assistance. Through this understanding the Scottish Government has established its international development footprint.

The Scottish Government has nine international offices to promote its international relationships, plus engagement strategies with the USA, China, Canada, India and Pakistan. It is active in a range of regional and subnational multilateral coalitions. Within Scotland, private and public sector bodies have a good deal of autonomy over procurement and investment, which has implications for relations with countries outside Scotland.

The Scottish Government has a stated ambition to be a good global citizen, “making a constructive contribution to addressing global challenges”. It has developed an increasingly ambitious role in the international arena, centred around its international development strategy, climate justice work, Vision for Trade and commitments to upholding human rights, the rule of law and multilateralism. The Scottish Government is committed to working towards the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its domestic and foreign dealings, and has a National Performance Framework (NPF) aligned to the SDGs. In addition, the Scottish Government is committed to “Policy Coherence in Sustainable Development,” an approach that the OECD highlights as key to achieving the SDGs.

Scotland is not a member of the United Nations, however, and cannot negotiate nor ratify any international treaties. Likewise, it is not a member of the World Trade Organisation and does not negotiate any trade agreements.

The fact that Scotland is not a sovereign state with the full range of powers arguably makes it challenging for the Scottish Government to implement a feminist approach to global affairs. It has few levers with which to contribute to reform of the global economic system driving inequalities and ecological collapse, or the militaristic and competitive system of nation-states. Nonetheless – as will be evident in the consultation recommendations outlined in this report – the Scottish Government has a range of mechanisms through which it can pursue a feminist approach to its external relations: using soft power to make the case for systemic transformations, practicing and championing fairer, greener, gender-just economic and social policies, and improving its own processes to contribute to system change.