A Challenge to Foreign Policy Analysis? The Puzzling Presence of Gender Issues in EU External Policies

How to explain EU foreign policymaking in general, and the inclusion of gender issues in its external policies in particular? There is no easy answer to this question, because the institutional set-up of the EU and its varying degree of actorness seem to make it a hard case for Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). After all, FPA aims to explain the behaviour of a state, not an actor such as the EU. This paper will build on the conceptual framework recently developed by Brazys et al. for explaining foreign policy change, and elaborate it in order to deal with the multilayered and polycentric character of the EU. The empirical part focuses on the inclusion of gender issues in EU external policies. It presents us with a puzzle because until recently, gender equality was not on the EU external affairs agenda apart from some ad hoc references in EU development policy. However, a change seems to have taken place as gender issues have received more attention in core strategy documents. This change is puzzling for at least two reasons. First, at the global level, we see a backlash against gender issues, driven by Russia, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Vatican, and backed by conservative religious organizations from the US. Second, within the EU there is strong contestation as well, mobilized by conservative governments in Eastern and Central Europe and radical right parties elsewhere, defending so-called Christian family values. Given this double contestation, how can we explain the presence of gender issues in EU external policies?