Queering Feminist Foreign Policy: The Potential of Feminist Foreign Policy to Dismantle Binary Gender Constructs in i/International Relations

Despite the increasing visibility of feminist perspectives in i/International relations, the dominant theories within this field remain predominantly male, heterosexual, White and Western. Although feminist IR attempts to bring about a shift in this narrative, its approaches and theorisations reinforce binary gender concepts and ideas. Furthermore, it is criticised for its Western-centric and White perspective. Queer IR scholarship, despite its critical potential, remains marginalised and has struggled to disrupt this epistemic hierarchy. This raises once again the fundamental question of how binary gender constructs in i/International relations can be dismantled. This paper explores the transformative potential of feminist foreign policy (FFP) as a theoretical framework, arguing that FFP offers a critical conceptual momentum due to its interdisciplinarity and multidimensionality. Thereby, this theoretical exploration addresses two gaps in the current research on FFP: the undertheorisation of FFP in scholarship, and the lack of integration of queer approaches. Accordingly, this theoretical reflection discusses how queer approaches can and must be incorporated in FFP and examines the extent to which FFP enables the deconstruction of binary gender constructions in i/International relations and foreign policy. Considering FFP as a possible disruption of ‘traditional’ i/International relations and foreign policy, it further argues that FFP has the potential to constitute a transformational framework if it moves beyond its initial conceptualisation and overcomes its embeddedness in binary constructions by embodying critical feminist and queer perspectives.