Exploring Intersections of Gender and Race in the Parliamentary Diplomacy of the European Parliament: The Cases of EP Relations with NATO and the ACP Countries

Parliamentary assemblies engage in a diverse array of international and transnational activities in the framework of their parliamentary diplomacy (PD), which provides informal and flexible platforms for international cooperation, dialogue, and scrutiny, often concurring in parallel to traditional, executive diplomacy. Yet, the theoretical lenses of feminist institutionalism (FI) have been only sparsely employed to investigate how PD might constitute a gendered and racialized institution per se, thus leaving a notable conceptual and empirical gap. This paper explores the discursive intersections of gender and race in the construction of the rules, norms and practices shaping PD in the European Parliament (EP). The paper theoretically draws upon discursive FI to present an original conceptualization of gendered and racialized PD emphasizing the centrality of institutional actors, norms, rules, discourses, and practices on gender and race in diplomatic relations at parliamentary level. Employing an interpretivist qualitative approach, this research combines semi-structured interviews and parliamentary ethnography to explore gendered and racialized dynamics in EP PD in the fields of security, defense, and development policy. The empirical analysis focuses on the case studies of EP relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and with the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) during the ninth and the early stages of the tenth legislatures (2019-2025). Gendered and racialized PD is examined across five analytical levels: (i) individual MEPs; (ii) political groups; (iii) parliamentary Committees handling diplomatic dossiers; (iv) inter-parliamentary delegations; and (v) EP Presidency. Ultimately, this paper aspires to contribute to the rapidly evolving FI research agenda on parliaments and diplomacy by introducing workable theoretical categories that could shed further light on the empirical links between the micro-political dynamics of gender and race and the external projection of the EP onto the global stage.