A Moral Compass? Enquiring into the Potential of Feminist Theory and Practice to shape a Sustainable International Society

Living through interrelated existential risks such as war, autocracy, crumbling human rights, a pandemic, nuclear or ecological crises - the phenomenon of a ‘Polycrisis’ opens up theoretical and empirical puzzles. Dealing with a myriad of issues simultaneously calls for an orientation point, a moral compass and a vision for a sustainable future. For over 120 years, feminists in civil society and academia have criticised the status quo but also developed visions to transform global and local societies in a sustainable way. These visions can be, and indeed are being utilised by politicians and civil society actors who aim to translate feminist thought into practice. This project aims to map the potential of Feminist thought to tackle the polycrisis and shape a sustainable international society and aims to spell out what feminist thought envisions as a sustainable society.

Our project fills the gap left by analytical endeavours on polycrisis by viewing Feminist thought as a moral compass embracing normativity in order to coherently navigate through a diverse set of interrelated crises. One remarkable example of this translation exercise from theory into practice marks the emergence of Feminist Foreign Policies and other feminist interventions into the international sphere - both should be central to the empirical inquiry of this project.

This project is preparing to dive into two questions: how can feminist visions guide the transformation from societies suffering from interrelated crises to sustainable societies? And how is feminism both contesting the status quo and is itself internally contested through differing conceptions of Feminism? With the method of ‘zooming in’, three dimensions of governance pertaining to aspects of the polycrisis are highlighted in more detail: the role of order, norms and policy:

• On order, feminists have, for instance, been involved in criticising the dominant ordering of nuclear weapons governance. Conventionally, the global nuclear order entails deterrence as a central element, clashing with nuclear disarmament. Feminist interventions from civil society and academia have long advocated for disarmament, yet Feminist Foreign Policies published by governments frequently exclude this normative aspiration - nuclear ordering remains contested.
• While looking at the role of norms within governance it is useful to investigate how feminists navigate norm clashes occurring in the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine: is it, for instance, possible to reconcile pacifism and self-defence? Within this work, core norms of feminist theory will be identified and then analysed and challenged within the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, by looking at Ukrainian feminists’ practice.
• On questions of policy this research, by specifically looking into the practices of FFP, uncovering how they are structured, illuminating their surrounding social dynamics and reconstructing how they come about and are implemented, can unveil their transformative potentials towards societal sustainability. Being concerned with implicit knowledge as the ‘epistemic infrastructure’ for action, through a practice-focused inquiry contested conceptions of Feminism can be brought to light. Looking at this through the lens of communities of practice enables grasping the social dynamics of FFP-practice.

In its enquiry, this working group will deliver some key outcomes. A comprehensive DFG-proposal, an academic expert workshop, a contribution to the working paper series as well as further envisioned peer-reviewed and more outreach-oriented publications should be the outcome for the two years of the working group.

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Tooze, A. (2023) Can the word ‘polycrisis’ help us to make sense of a post-covid world? Radio Davos. via https://open.spotify.com/episode/0GALIyBCvEsuIteyupVoAX?go=1&sp_cid=e6b3be6fcf1af9ee 780acc81d8d3cb2f&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=9ac0e a1101064a40 (accessed 14.06.2024)

Wiener, A. (2018) Contestation and Constitution of Norms in Global International Relations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

• Prof. Dr. Antje Wiener
• Prof. Dr. Franziska Müller
• Dr. Maren Hofius
• Jannis Kappelmann
• Predoctoral Researchers: Zoe Huppertz and Valentin Lechner