Women on Mars : the two post-Lisbon high representatives and EU Foreign policy on Libya

Abstract

The chapter examines women’s leadership in EU foreign policy. In the past decade, two women have served as chief of EU foreign policy. Since the Lisbon Treaty’s introduction of the new High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (December 2009), Catherine Ashton and Federica Mogherini held the post during its first ten years. How did Ashton and Mogherini access the position? And how have they performed their functions? To address these questions, we start by providing a comparative analysis of their nominations as High Representatives to examine their respective positional leadership. We then continue by assessing their behavioral leadership in facing the crisis in Libya. On a theoretical level, we employ the original and innovative analytical framework outlined in the introduction to this volume. By doing so, we participate in the effort to move research on women’s leadership in the EU beyond the status quo. On an empirical level, we shed light on the access to and exercise of women’s leadership in EU foreign policy, which remains largely uncharted territory.