Feminist Foreign Policy in Colombia

Abstract

Colombia made official its intention of designing and implementing a feminist foreign policy (ffp) on

October 5th 2022. Given the novelty of the topic, doubts, fears and prejudices still remain in the country derived from a profound lack of knowledge of what an ffp entails. This article asks, what are the background as well as the implications of announcing a ffp in Colombia? The article traces the origins of Colombia’s FPP back to previous administrations, it presents, an analysis of what the vision for ffp is, its benefits and disadvantages, whom it includes or excludes, and the main challenges. It offers a preliminary interpretation of the Colombian case based on the two-level game concept, under which any alteration within the domestic level ends up having an impact on the international level and vice versa; in addition to the use of feminism in international relations as the starting point for the analysis. In order to explain Colombian ffp, the article traces, through secondary sources and speeches, what could be identified as the origins of ffp and details the implementation challenges ahead for Gustavo Petro’s administration. Thus, our discussion contributes to the ongoing debates on the foreign policy implementation strategies in countries outside of the “Global North”.