POLICY BRIEF October 2025 BEYOND VALUES: HOW FEMINIST FOREIGN POLICY SERVES STRATEGIC INTERESTS ABSTRACT There are many normative reasons to adopt a Feminist Foreign Policy(FFP) such as building a more just and peaceful world, decreasing gender inequality, dismantling power hierarchies and fostering a stronger inclusion of civil society and marginalized expertise in policymaking. Broadly speaking, it is about the fundamental question: what – and whom – do we place at the heart of our foreign policy? FFP, with its growing body of research and practice, has in recent years offered both a discursive frame and a material toolbox to advance this engagement. Yet, as the number of states officially pursuing FFP has increased, further motivations become visible that go beyond a purely normative logic and serve strategic interests. This paper turns to those logics – not to dismiss the normative case, but to examine the broader spectrum of reasons that make FFP politically attractive. It introduces four different strategic interests shaping state engagement with FFP: 1) efficiency, 2) leadership, 3) reputation, and 4) alliances. By analyzing the benefits policymakers associate with FFP, it contributes to a broader debate on FFP at EU level. Filling a gap by exploring those strategic interests, it supports state actors in the implementation and provides FFP advocates and civil society actors with additional arguments. By offering different types of motives, the paper invites actors to explore what rationale – with both its opportunities and risks – prevails in their own approach, and how to draw on elements of the types less focused on. With that, the paper offers recommendations on how to pursue a comprehensive approach to FFP that makes full use of its potential. Finally, it cautions against not grounding the approaches in a strong normative fundament. AUTHOR LEONIE STAMM Research Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations(DGAP) IN PARTNERSHIP WITH