Diversifying the Federal Foreign Office: The German Foreign Policy Discourse on Credibility

Abstract This article interrogates German foreign policy discourse during 2018–2021, focusing on how the prioritization of gender equality and diversity in German foreign policy was justified by invoking credibility. It shows that the discourse constructs equal and diverse representation at home as necessary for being recognized as a credible foreign policy actor, and credibility as a necessary precondition for foreign policy. Claims to credibility are distinct from rights-based and instrumental arguments about the organizational and state benefits of equal representation previously identified in scholarship on gender in diplomacy. Therefore, this article develops an original classification of discourses on equal representation in foreign affairs. Empirically, it shows that these claims extend constructions of the “good” German state identified in scholarship on German foreign policy. They also constitute a form of governmentality, inciting ministry staff to conduct themselves in line with what it means to be credible: realizing equal representation in the Federal Foreign Office. While this allows the ministry to “diversify,” it masks entrenched inequalities in German society.