What [European] Women [Really] Want? A Critical, Feminist Approach to Understanding Gendered Aspects of Public Opinion on European Union’s Security and Defense Policy

Abstract

Given consistent Eurobarometer data-based claims by the EU, that 'large majorities in all Member States would like to see “more Europe” in security and defence' (CSDP), and in the wake of EU legislation establishing an EU army ("PESCO") passed in December 2017 to operationalise the EU's mutual defence clause (Article 42.7 TEU), it is timely to critically examine the relationship between the use of opinion poll data and EU member-states' true public preferences on security and defence, with a particular focus on gender. Whilst there is a literature on feminist/critical security studies, and a literature on gender and public attitudes to the use of force, to date, there is has been little integration of the two fields. This paper problematises the current discourses on public support for EU CSDP and provides a data-based, feminist critique of how the European Union uses surveys to capture public attitudes to European Security and Defence Policy.

Panel: Democratization and Politicization of Military Issues in Europe

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EISS 2018 programme

@inproceedings{eiss-2018-what-european-women-really-want-a-critical-feminist-approach-to-understanding-ge,
  author = {Karen Devine},
  title = {What [European] Women [Really] Want? A Critical, Feminist Approach to Understanding Gendered Aspects of Public Opinion on European Union’s Security and Defense Policy},
  booktitle = {European Security Studies Conference 2018},
  year = {2018},
  url = {https://eiss-europa.com/papers/2018-what-european-women-really-want-a-critical-feminist-approach-to-understanding-ge.html}
}