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Postcolonial logic and silences in strategic narratives: Sweden’s feminist foreign policy in conflict-affected states

Zhukova, Ekatherina LU orcid (2023) In Global Society 37(1). p.1-22
Abstract
Drawing on a postcolonial perspective and theories of strategic narratives and silences, this article looks at how Sweden’s feminist foreign policy (FFP) was reported in the media of conflict-affected states. It improves our understanding of feminist foreign policy reception by showing that from twenty selected countries, only newspapers in ten states had content on the FFP. It is argued that this modest media coverage was guided by a lack of interest in the FFP expressed in silence as an indirect way of resistance to norm promotion. This lack of interest is conceptualised as a postcolonial disengagement with Sweden’s strategic narratives. The article further demonstrates that in the remaining ten countries the media transmitted Sweden’s... (More)
Drawing on a postcolonial perspective and theories of strategic narratives and silences, this article looks at how Sweden’s feminist foreign policy (FFP) was reported in the media of conflict-affected states. It improves our understanding of feminist foreign policy reception by showing that from twenty selected countries, only newspapers in ten states had content on the FFP. It is argued that this modest media coverage was guided by a lack of interest in the FFP expressed in silence as an indirect way of resistance to norm promotion. This lack of interest is conceptualised as a postcolonial disengagement with Sweden’s strategic narratives. The article further demonstrates that in the remaining ten countries the media transmitted Sweden’s strategic narratives without subjecting them to critical scrutiny. This lack of scrutiny is conceptualised as a postcolonial allowance of FFP narratives in conflict-affected states. The conceptualization of norm reception through postcolonial disengagement and allowance advances our understanding of acceptance and rejection of gender equality norms advocated by ethical foreign policies in marginalized states. The article contributes to the emerging work on postcolonial FFP and Women, Peace and Security (WPS) by improving our knowledge on local actors’ agency in countries affected by conflict. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
conflict-affected states, feminist foreign policy, postcolonial logic, silences, strategic narratives, Sweden
in
Global Society
volume
37
issue
1
pages
1 - 22
publisher
Journal of Interdisciplinary International Relations
external identifiers
  • scopus:85121396240
ISSN
1360-0826
DOI
10.1080/13600826.2021.2010664
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fd3ea875-98da-4345-a00f-4ef2cc5a4529
alternative location
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13600826.2021.2010664
date added to LUP
2021-11-21 09:23:14
date last changed
2023-01-16 10:15:16
@article{fd3ea875-98da-4345-a00f-4ef2cc5a4529,
  abstract     = {{Drawing on a postcolonial perspective and theories of strategic narratives and silences, this article looks at how Sweden’s feminist foreign policy (FFP) was reported in the media of conflict-affected states. It improves our understanding of feminist foreign policy reception by showing that from twenty selected countries, only newspapers in ten states had content on the FFP. It is argued that this modest media coverage was guided by a lack of interest in the FFP expressed in silence as an indirect way of resistance to norm promotion. This lack of interest is conceptualised as a postcolonial disengagement with Sweden’s strategic narratives. The article further demonstrates that in the remaining ten countries the media transmitted Sweden’s strategic narratives without subjecting them to critical scrutiny. This lack of scrutiny is conceptualised as a postcolonial allowance of FFP narratives in conflict-affected states. The conceptualization of norm reception through postcolonial disengagement and allowance advances our understanding of acceptance and rejection of gender equality norms advocated by ethical foreign policies in marginalized states. The article contributes to the emerging work on postcolonial FFP and Women, Peace and Security (WPS) by improving our knowledge on local actors’ agency in countries affected by conflict.}},
  author       = {{Zhukova, Ekatherina}},
  issn         = {{1360-0826}},
  keywords     = {{conflict-affected states; feminist foreign policy; postcolonial logic; silences; strategic narratives; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{1--22}},
  publisher    = {{Journal of Interdisciplinary International Relations}},
  series       = {{Global Society}},
  title        = {{Postcolonial logic and silences in strategic narratives: Sweden’s feminist foreign policy in conflict-affected states}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2021.2010664}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/13600826.2021.2010664}},
  volume       = {{37}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}