Inhalt: This article explores the intersections of gender and centre–periphery relations and calls for theoretical and political involvement in gendered struggles against colonial and capitalist forces across different national contexts. The article raises questions about the possibility of resisting inequality and exploitation arising from capitalist expansion and extraction of natural resources in Sweden and Greece, outside of urban contexts. It does so by highlighting women’s role in protest movements in peripheral places and questioning power relations between centre and periphery. The article also argues that making visible women’s struggles and contributions to protest movements brings about vital knowledge for realizing democratic worlds that do not thrive on the destruction of natural resources and the institutionalization of inequalities.
Not Too Young to Run? Age requirements and young people in elected office
Autor/in:
Krook, Mona Lena; Nugent, Mary K.
Quelle: Intergenerational Justice Review, 4 (2018) 2, S 60-67
Inhalt: Promoting youth representation in parliaments is a growing global priority. To promote youth leadership and more inclusive politics, youth organizations in Nigeria mobilized successfully for a constitutional reform to lower the eligibility age to run for political office. In this paper, we draw on global data to assess whether lower eligibility ages will in fact lead to higher levels of youth participation. We find that lower age requirements positively affect the representation of the youngest and next youngest cohorts in parliament. We draw on qualitative interviews and gender literature to theorize that lower age limits have immediate and longer-term "mobilizing effects", shifting the calculations of potential candidates in terms of the age at which they first decide to run for office.
Schlagwörter:Jugendlicher; adolescent; junger Erwachsener; young adult; Parlament; parliament; Repräsentation; representation; Jugendvertretung; young representation; politische Partizipation; political participation; Nigeria; Nigeria; Westafrika; West Africa
SSOAR Kategorie:politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur
Women's Coalitions beyond the Laicism-Islamism Divide in Turkey: Towards an Inclusive Struggle for Gender Equality?
Autor/in:
Çağatay, Selin
Quelle: Social Inclusion, 6 (2018) 4, S 48-58
Inhalt: In the 2010s in Turkey, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) authoritarian-populist turn accompanied the institutionalization of political Islam. As laicism was discredited and labeled as an imposed-from-above principle of Western/Kemalist modernity, the notion of equality ceased to inform the state’s gender policies. In response to AKP's attempts to redefine gender relations through the notions of complementarity and fıtrat (purpose of creation), women across the political spectrum have mobilized for an understanding of gender equality that transcends the laicism - Islamism divide yet maintains secularity as its constitutive principle. Analyzing three recent attempts of women's coalition-building, this article shows that, first, gender equality activists in the 2010s are renegotiating the border between secularity and piety towards more inclusive understandings of gender equality; and second, that struggles against AKP’s gender politics are fragmented due to different configurations of gender equality and secularity that reflect class and ethnic antagonisms in Turkish society. The article thereby argues for the need to move beyond binary approaches to secularism and religion that have so far dominated the scholarly analysis of women’s activism in both Turkey and the Nordic context.
Das Politisierungsparadox: Warum der Rechtspopulismus nicht gegen Entpolitisierung und Ungleichheit hilft
Titelübersetzung:Paradoxes of Politicization: Why Right-wing Populism is No Cure For Inequality and Depoliticization
Autor/in:
Dormal, Michel; Mauer, Heike
Quelle: Femina Politica - Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft, 27 (2018) 1, S 22-34
Inhalt: Der Beitrag kritisiert die bei linken Autorinnen und Autoren beliebte These, der zufolge der Rechtspopulismus trotz seiner problematischen Züge den politischen Möglichkeitsraum erweitere, indem er einen entpolitisierten Liberalismus überwinde und soziale Ungleichheit wieder auf die Agenda setze. Die im Beitrag vertretene Gegenthese lautet, dass der Rechtspopulismus selbst konstitutiv eine spezifische Form der Entpolitisierung und der Naturalisierung von Ungleichheit darstellt. Eine wichtige Dimension dieser Naturalisierung von Ungleichheit stellen die gesellschaftlichen Geschlechterverhältnisse dar. Die Angriffe auf die Demokratisierung der Geschlechterverhältnisse durch den Rechtspopulismus sind keine zufälligen Verirrungen, die dem Phänomen äußerlich wären. Vielmehr offenbart gerade die antifeministische Obsession, dass es dem Rechtspopulismus nicht darum geht, gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse zu politisieren, sondern darum, sie in autoritärer Weise zu stabilisieren. Um den Doppelcharakter zu fassen, der darin liegt, dass der Populismus zwar quantitativ durchaus für eine Mobilisierung vormals politikverdrossener Milieus sorgt, qualitativ aber maßgeblich die Entpolitisierung des Zusammenlebens betreibt, wird der Begriff des Politisierungsparadoxes eingeführt.
Inhalt: In this article, we criticize the idea put forward by many left-wing theorists, according to which right-wing populism, despite having wrong political ideals, helps to repoliticize inequalities and to bring back class issues onto the political agenda. We argue instead that right-wing populism itself constitutes a specific form of depoliticization and naturalization of social inequalities. To substantiate this claim, the article examines the attacks mounted by right-wing populists against the democratization of gender relations. The obsession of right-wing movements and parties with an antifeminist political agenda clearly reveals that right-wing populism is not working towards a real politicization of inequalities but rather an authoritarian stabilization of social relations.
Schlagwörter:Populismus; populism; politische Rechte; political right; Politisierung; politicization; Ungleichheit; inequality; Demokratie; democracy; Geschlechterverhältnis; gender relations
SSOAR Kategorie:politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur, Allgemeines, spezielle Theorien und Schulen, Methoden, Entwicklung und Geschichte der Politikwissenschaft
Quelle: Femina Politica - Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft, 27 (2018) 1, S 47-61
Inhalt: Aktuell wird europaweit das gleichstellungspolitisch Erreichte - sei es die (relative) Öffnung der Ehe für gleichgeschlechtliche Paare, der Anspruch von Frauen auf autonome Lebensentscheidungen, die Möglichkeit der Integration von Geschlecht und Sexualität in wissenschaftliche Paradigmen oder die Inklusion von Frauen in patriarchale Sprachmuster - in Frage gestellt. Der Beitrag zeigt am Beispiel Österreichs, dass sich der Hass auf Gleichberechtigung, der Wunsch nach Reetablierung traditioneller hierarchischer und naturalisierter Geschlechterverhältnisse sowie der Wille zur Diffamierung und Diskriminierung jeder Form von Sexualität jenseits heterosexueller Vorstellungen in breitere rechtspopulistische und rechtsextreme Strategien der Naturalisierung sozialer Ungleichheit einfügen. Damit verfügen sie über das Potenzial, diese zu plausibilisieren und zu popularisieren. Der Text macht deutlich, dass im Kampf gegen Geschlechtergleichstellung und gegen die Anerkennung sexueller Differenz ein Kampf um kulturelle Hegemonie sichtbar wird, der sich gegen die sozialen Errungenschaften, gegen Liberalisierungsprojekte und gegen demokratische Kompromisse der 1970er-Jahre wendet und der insbesondere die Idee der 'Gleichheit' als Basis von Demokratie ablehnt.
Inhalt: Equal opportunity policies have achieved a number of milestones in Europe, including the legalization of same-sex marriage, women's right to determine their own lives, the possibility to include gender and sexuality in academic paradigms or the visibility of women in patriarchal language. However, currently these accomplishments are under attack. Taking Austria as an example the article shows that the rejection of equal opportunities, the wish for the re-establishment of traditional, hierarchical and naturalized gender relations and the will to repudiate and discriminate against any form of sexuality other than heterosexuality are part of broader right-wing populist and right-wing extremist strategies, which aim to naturalize social inequality. We show that gender and sexuality related discourses have the potential to render these overarching strategies more plausible and popular. The fight against gender equality and against the acceptance of sexual diversity is analyzed as part of a fight for cultural hegemony. It is a fight that tries to dismantle social achievements, the liberalization of social relations and the democratic compromises of the 1970s, but which most of all objects to the idea of 'equality' as the basis of democracy.
Schlagwörter:Gender; gender; Geschlechterverhältnis; gender relations; Geschlechterpolitik; gender policy; Gleichstellungspolitik; equal opportunity policy; Gleichberechtigung; equality of rights; Populismus; populism; politische Rechte; political right; Rassismus; racism; Konservatismus; conservatism; Diskurs; discourse; Österreich; Austria
SSOAR Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur
Conservative Counter-Movements? Overcoming Culturalising Interpretations of Right-Wing Mobilizations Against 'Gender Ideology'
Autor/in:
Kováts, Eszter
Quelle: Femina Politica - Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft, 27 (2018) 1, S 75-88
Inhalt: Der Beitrag greift in die Debatte zu den Gründen des Aufstiegs der europäischen Bewegungen ein, die gegen das Feindbild 'Genderideologie' mobilisieren. In diesem Zusammenhang werden Angriffe auf die 'Genderideologie' als Teil einer breiteren politischen Verschiebung verstanden, die unter anderem von der wachsenden Popularität des Rechtspopulismus in Europa und darüber hinaus forciert wird. Ausgehend von Chantal Mouffes Ansatz, der die Hegemonie einer konsensualen Politik der letzten Jahrzehnte kritisiert und in der Unfähigkeit der Politik, agonistische Räume zu schaffen, einen der wichtigsten Gründe für die zunehmende Popularität der Rechten in Westeuropa sieht, zeigt der Beitrag, wie zum einen der neoliberale Konsens und zum anderen der Konsens zu den Menschenrechten zum Aufstieg der Bewegungen gegen 'Genderideologie' beigetragen haben, befördert von den sogenannten progressiven (inkl. feministischen und LSBT-)Bewegungen und Parteien. Gezeigt wird an einem empirischen Beispiel, wie ein kulturalistisches Verständnis dieser Bewegungen an der Reproduktion eines wertgeladenen und dichotomen Konflikts mitwirkt, diesen damit als Ergebnis von spezifischen sozioökonomischen Prozessen leugnet und in der Folge die Machtverhältnisse auf europäischer und globaler Ebene unsichtbar macht.
Inhalt: This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the reasons behind the rise of movements mobilizing against ‘gender ideology’ in Europe. As previously argued by Weronika Grzebalska, Andrea Pető and myself, attacks on ‘gender ideology’ should be seen as part of a broader political shift, characterized by the growing popularity of the populist right all over Europe and beyond, and we need an approach that seeks to understand the root causes of this trend. The paper applies Chantal Mouffe's critique of the established hegemony of consensus in politics in the last decades (instead of providing spaces for agonistic struggles) and her argument that it is one of the main reasons behind the rise of the populist right in Western Europe. Using her approach, complemented with East-Central European insights, I will base my argument upon one of my earlier papers and analyze two consensuses I identified in relation to gender issues and which are promoted by the so-called progressive (including feminist and LGBT) movements and parties: the neoliberal consensus and the human rights consensus - and the way these claimed and desired consensuses contributed to the rise of movements against ‘gender ideology.’ Based on this theoretical framework and the empirical findings, I will show that the culturalist interpretation of these movements (e.g. framing them as counter-movements/opposition against equality) is insufficient and cooperates to the reproduction of the very same false dichotomy proposed by the movements in question. The paper proposes that presenting this conflict as a value-based dichotomy is itself the result of specific socio-economic processes and obscures power relations occurring at the European and global level, of which feminist and LGBT struggles are a part of.
SSOAR Kategorie:politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Alles Retro? Die neu-konservative Wende in Österreich
Autor/in:
Löffler, Marion
Quelle: Femina Politica - Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft, 27 (2018) 1, S 121-127
Schlagwörter:Österreich; Austria; Nationalrat; National Council; Wahlergebnis; election result; politischer Wandel; political change; Geschlechterverteilung; sex ratio; Frauenanteil; proportion of women; Regierungsmitglied; member of the government; Frauenpolitik; women's policy; Geschlechterpolitik; gender policy
SSOAR Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur
Quelle: Journal of Civil Society, 14 (2018) 2, S 95-115
Inhalt: Whether associations help to democratize authoritarian rule or support those in power is a contested issue that so far lacks a cross-regional, comparative perspective. In this article we focus on five types of associations in three post-socialist countries, situated in different world regions, that are governed by authoritarian regimes. We first explore how infrastructural and discursive state power impact such associations and vice versa. We then discuss whether these associations support the development of citizens' collective and individual self-determination and autonomy and/or whether they negate such self-determination and autonomy - a state of affairs that is at the core of authoritarianism.
Our analysis addresses decision-making in associations and three specific policy areas. We find that most of the covered associations accept or do not openly reject state/ruling party interference in their internal decision-making processes. Moreover, in most of these associations the self-determination and autonomy of members are restricted, if not negated. With respect to HIV/AIDS policy, associations in Algeria and Vietnam toe the official line, and thus contribute, unlike their counterparts in Mozambique, to negating the self-determination and autonomy of affected people and other social minorities. Looking at enterprise promotion policy, we find that the co-optation of business and professionals’ associations in all three countries effectively limits democratizing impulses. Finally, in all three countries many, but not all, of the interviewed associations support state-propagated norms concerning gender and gender relationships, thus contributing to limiting the self-determination and autonomy of women in the private sphere.
LGBTIQ*-Wahlstudie 2017 zur Bundestagswahl in Deutschland und zur Nationalratswahl in Österreich
Autor/in:
Nève, Dorothée de; Ferch, Niklas; Hunklinger, Michael; Olteanu, Tina
Quelle: Femina Politica - Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft, 27 (2018) 1, S 149-157
Schlagwörter:Wähler; voter; sexuelle Orientierung; sexual orientation; politische Einstellung; political attitude; politische Partizipation; political participation; Wahlverhalten; voting behavior; Partei; party; Präferenz; preference; Bundestagswahl; election to the Bundestag; Federal Republic of Germany; Wahl; election; Nationalrat; National Council; Österreich; Austria; Wahlforschung; election research; Queer Studies; queer studies; LGBTIQ
SSOAR Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur