Gender and International Relations in North Africa

Clara della Valle is an Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the University of Bologna, where she was a Research Fellow (2021-2025). She holds a PhD in Politics, Human Rights, and Sustainability from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (2019), where she contributed to the project Enhancing Women’s Participation in Peace and Security (2020). She serves on the Steering Committee of the Standing Group on International Relations of the Italian Political Science Association and as an Associate Editor of Interdisciplinary Political Studies.

• Introduction; Chapter 1: Decentring international and European gender agendas: theoretical and methodological considerations; 1. Introduction; 2. On time and space in International Relations; 3. Gender and the UN; 3.1. The Women, Peace, and Security discourse and practice: “Does the ‘Global South’ speak?”; 4. Gender and the EU; 4.1. Decentring EU Foreign Policy Research; 4.2. EU Foreign Policy and Gender: “Does the Southern neighbourhood speak?”; 5. Methodological notes; 5.1. ‘Navigating’ the field; 5.2. Questioning the boundaries of disciplines and the role of the researcher: an interdisciplinary and self-reflexive approach; 5.3. The Grounded Theory methodology; 6. Conclusions: a research roadmap for a decentred perspective; Chapter 2: Centring the ‘local’: Tunisian feminist and queer activism amid political turmoil and intersecting crises; 1. Introduction; 2. Feminist activism in Tunisia: a historical overview; 3. The 2010-2011 revolution and the political transition; 3.1. Reshaping the landscape of established and emerging identities in Tunis and ‘on the margins’; 3.2. Struggling for rights and equality in public and private spheres; 4. Ongoing challenges for feminist and queer activists; 4.1. From norms to practice: GBV, patriarchal culture, socio-economic disparities, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; 4.2. Security/-isation crisis, political turmoil, and authoritarian resurgence; 5. Conclusions; Chapter 3: EU gender policies in Tunisia under dictatorships (1995-2011); 1. Introduction; 2. The context: UN strategies on gender; 2.1. The UN World Conferences on Women; 2.2. The Women, Peace and Security Agenda; 3. The EU, its Southern neighbourhood, and its gender policies; 3.1. From the Global Mediterranean Policy to the European Neighbourhood Policy; 3.2. Integrating gender into Euro-Mediterranean relations: ENP, GAP I, and WPS approach; 4. The EU and Tunisia; 4.1. Cooperation under Ben Ali’s regime: human rights rhetoric vs. practice?; 4.2. EU gender policies in Tunisia; 4.2.1. Voices from the field; 5. Conclusions; Chapter 4: EU gender policies in Tunisia during the democratic transition (2011-2021); 1. Introduction; 2. The context: UN strategies on gender; 2.1. The evolving path of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: progress and limits; 2.2. Zooming in on the WPS Agenda’s implementation in Tunisia: the 2018 NAP on UNSCR 1325; 2.2.1. Voices from the field; 3. The EU, its Southern neighbourhood, and its gender policies; 3.1. Rethinking the ENP after the Arab uprisings; 3.2. Enhancing gender in Euro-Mediterranean relations: ENP, GAPs II and III, WPS approach; 4. The EU and Tunisia; 4.1. The ‘bon élève’ of the ENP? Strengthening EU support; 4.2. EU gender policies in Tunisia; 4.2.1. Voices from the field; 5. Conclusions; Chapter 5: Towards an agency-based approach in EU gender policies; 1. Introduction; 2. “Giving voice” or “speaking for”?; 3. Agency and empowerment in development and feminist studies; 4. Amartya Sen on the process aspect of agency; 4.1. Realised agency success and instrumental agency success; 4.2. Control freedom and effective freedom; 5. EU gender policies and Tunisian women’s agencies: issues and challenges; 5.1. Participation; 5.2. Durability; 5.3. Bottom-up expression of needs and interests; 6. Conclusions; Chapter 6: EU gender policies in Tunisia in times of authoritarian restoration (2021-present); 1. Introduction; 2. A personal note; 3. The Tunisian women’s demand for dignity, fifteen years on: between the global gender backlash, shifting EU priorities, and rising domestic authoritarianism; 4. From the New Agenda for the Mediterranean to the Pact for the Mediterranean; 5. EU (rights) meet Kais Saied: a populist encounter; 6. Where is gender? Voices from the field; 6.1. Women, Peace and Security on the margins: the long path from Tunisia’s first to second NAP on UNSCR 1325; 6.2. The EU’s Gender Action Plan III in practice: bridging policy and reality; 6.3. From Brussels to Tunis: translating GAP III on the ground; 6.3.1. Integrating gender into the Programme d’Appui à l’Inclusion Sociale; 6.4. Changes and continuities in the EU’s approach to gender policies in Tunisia; 7. Conclusion.