Foreign Affairs

"Share our similarities, celebrate our differences" a quote from M. Scott Peck. This quote relates to the activities and my reactions to some of the events we were engaged in this past week. As I continue to journey through our second week of classes and the streets of Stockholm, my horizons continue to expand. I continue to grow as an individual. While absorbing the culture and finally settling into the flow of things, I have now grown a deeper appreciation for this beautiful city. I have learned much more about Sweden's history and the development of what was once considered to be a poor country to now being a culturally diverse and sustainable, beautiful place to live. One question I proposed was that, how does this change come about, and what did it take to help develop this country into what it is now?

Our class had an amazing opportunity to meet and have a Q&A session with a political advisor from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Eric gives political advise to the head minister of foreign affairs who happens to be a woman, kudos to the women doing great things! One thing I took away from our session with Eric was his incorporation of what seems to be coherent with a more democratic leadership style. His overall message shows that there is a common consensus and inclusion of both men and women, from different political parties working together for the good of the country, while working with other countries as well.

I also enjoyed learning about their feminist foreign policy that focuses on the inclusion and consideration of issues effecting women and working toward gender equality to create a more sustainable society. In the American society and even in the Swedish society most people have a misinterpretation of the idea of feminist and its connotation has been viewed in a negative aspect for a few decades now. Hearing Eric give examples of what the foreign policy aims to accomplish, has encouraged me to think deeper on how our society should try to implement some form of the policy. However, it all goes back to my original question, how does this change come about? Thinking even further, I now propose a few new questions, how would a feminist foreign policy look in our society and who determines what is included in this policy? And what would be its backlash?