Ms Karoline Färber

Karoline (she/her) is a PhD researcher at the Department of War Studies. Her transdisciplinary research is situated at the intersection of feminist international relations, institutional ethnography, and international political sociology. She is interested in feminist foreign policy, diplomacy and gender, diplomatic institutions and institutional change, everyday knowledge production in foreign policy as well as transdisciplinary approaches to the study of (in)security.

Her current project explores the everyday production of feminist foreign policy in the German Federal Foreign Office. Karoline’s PhD is fully funded by the German Academic Scholarship Association (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes).

Karoline has extensive teaching and research experience, with a particular focus on international relations theory and feminist approaches to the international.

In addition to her PhD, Karoline is a member of the Programme for Gender and International Politics at the Polis180 think tank for Foreign and European Policy. She has provided expertise on feminist foreign policy and the Women, Peace and Security agenda to the German government. 

Karoline is also a part of the GenDip Network on gender and diplomacy. She holds a B.A. in International Relations with a minor in Social Sciences from the University of Erfurt, Germany, and an M.A. in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London. Before starting her PhD, she was Personal Advisor to the State Secretary of a German State Chancellery.

Research Interests

• Feminist foreign policy
• Diplomacy and gender, class, and race
• Diplomatic institutions and institutional change
• Everyday knowledge production in foreign policy
• Transdisciplinary approaches to the study of (in)security
• Institutional ethnograph 

Thesis

Producing feminist foreign policy in the everyday: An institutional ethnography of the German Federal Foreign Office

Germany is one of the newer additions to the group of states pursuing a feminist foreign policy (FFP), having adopted an FFP in December 2021. The German Federal Foreign Office has since developed the policy, which has culminated in the publication of FFP guidelines in March 2023. This development process not only raised questions about the meaning of FFP in the German context, it also brought an oft-neglected group of knowledge producers to the fore: diplomats and other foreign policy practitioners. This project explores their knowledge production on feminism(s) in foreign policy through an institutional ethnography.

Specifically, it is interested in how feminism(s) and feminist foreign policy are produced as they are: Which objectified forms of knowledge and consciousness organise people’s practices around feminism and feminist foreign policy in the Foreign Office?

Answering this question sheds light on the broader power relations shaping foreign policymaking today. It also allows to critically interrogate the transformative potential of feminist foreign policy, including avenues for institutional and foreign policy change. Hence, the findings of this project are useful for scholars and practitioners alike.

Supervisors

• Dr Amanda Chisholm (primary)
• Dr Leonie Ansems de Vries (primary)
• Prof Didier Bigo (secondary)

Publications

Research articles:

• Columba Achilleos-Sarll, Jennifer Thomson, Toni Haastrup, Karoline Färber, Carol Cohn, and Paul Kirby. 2023. ‘The Past, Present, and Future(s) of Feminist Foreign Policy.’ International Studies Review 25, no. 1.

Media articles:

• Simone Wisotzki, Victoria Scheyer, and Karoline Färber. 2022. ‘Rechte, Repräsentanz, Ressourcen, Diversität: Wie könnte eine feministische Außenpolitik für Deutschland aussehen?’ (in German). PRIF Blog.
• Karoline Färber. 2022. ‘Women in German Foreign Policy: A new research agenda.’ New Voices in Global Security.
• Maike Laengenfelder and Karoline Färber. 2021. ‘Angela Merkel’s feminist legacy? Moving away from the status quo in foreign policy.’ Polis blog.
• Karoline Färber. 2018. ‘The Absence of Methodology in Securitisation Theory.’ E-International Relations.

Podcasts:

• Fussnoten Podcast by M94.5. Feministische Außenpolitik – Ein neuer Weg für Deutschland? (in German).

For a full list of publications see Karoline's PURE account and ORCID ID.