Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The EU as a soft power: does discourse mean practice? The EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy through a critical feminist lens

LaZelle, Kathleen (2005)
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Extant work on the European Union's (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) argues that it is unique as a ?soft power? in the international system, especially in comparison to the United States. The term's recent attachment to gender, through Robert Kagan's ?Mars vs. Venus? analogy in his popular work on Power and Weakness, is an important development in research that seeks to bring gender studies to the forefront of foreign and security studies. Thus, scholars are given the impetus to question whether the CFSP truly deviates from notions of elite masculinity that have traditionally constructed and enforced foreign policy, as the discourse of ?soft power? might suggest. Is the ?soft power? discourse of the European Union's military... (More)
Extant work on the European Union's (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) argues that it is unique as a ?soft power? in the international system, especially in comparison to the United States. The term's recent attachment to gender, through Robert Kagan's ?Mars vs. Venus? analogy in his popular work on Power and Weakness, is an important development in research that seeks to bring gender studies to the forefront of foreign and security studies. Thus, scholars are given the impetus to question whether the CFSP truly deviates from notions of elite masculinity that have traditionally constructed and enforced foreign policy, as the discourse of ?soft power? might suggest. Is the ?soft power? discourse of the European Union's military a feminist discourse? And if so, has this discourse led to a deviation from the traditionally gendered practices of foreign policy implementation?

The recent European Union Police Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina (EUPM) will be used as a test case for the ?softness? of the EU's military action. Whereas, the incorporation of United Nations Security Resolution 1325 (UNSC 1325) shall be used as an example of successful integration of feminist perspectives, or indeed, gender mainstreaming. This case study will be assessed based on critical security studies and gender and feminist theory. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
LaZelle, Kathleen
supervisor
organization
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
military discourse, hegemonic masculinity, soft power, security studies, feminist perspectives, Political and administrative sciences, Statsvetenskap, förvaltningskunskap
language
English
id
1330257
date added to LUP
2005-06-20 00:00:00
date last changed
2005-06-20 00:00:00
@misc{1330257,
  abstract     = {{Extant work on the European Union's (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) argues that it is unique as a ?soft power? in the international system, especially in comparison to the United States. The term's recent attachment to gender, through Robert Kagan's ?Mars vs. Venus? analogy in his popular work on Power and Weakness, is an important development in research that seeks to bring gender studies to the forefront of foreign and security studies. Thus, scholars are given the impetus to question whether the CFSP truly deviates from notions of elite masculinity that have traditionally constructed and enforced foreign policy, as the discourse of ?soft power? might suggest. Is the ?soft power? discourse of the European Union's military a feminist discourse? And if so, has this discourse led to a deviation from the traditionally gendered practices of foreign policy implementation?

The recent European Union Police Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina (EUPM) will be used as a test case for the ?softness? of the EU's military action. Whereas, the incorporation of United Nations Security Resolution 1325 (UNSC 1325) shall be used as an example of successful integration of feminist perspectives, or indeed, gender mainstreaming. This case study will be assessed based on critical security studies and gender and feminist theory.}},
  author       = {{LaZelle, Kathleen}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The EU as a soft power: does discourse mean practice? The EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy through a critical feminist lens}},
  year         = {{2005}},
}