1. Women?s Movements in Democratization ? A Comparative Assessment of the Spanish and Portuguese Cases.
- Author
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Pereira, Ana
- Subjects
DEMOCRATIZATION ,SOCIAL conditions of women ,WOMEN in politics ,POLITICAL science - Abstract
Different theories of Southern European democratizations have privileged an elitist or ?top-down? orientation to democratization, focusing mostly on the state and on pacts between elites, especially between party leaders and the military . These approaches tend to neglect the role of non-elite political actors (e.g. women?s movements) and are unable to capture the full range of experiences that impede or facilitate participation of previously excluded actors in democratization. This paper provides a comparative assessment of women?s organizations in Spain and Portugal and their interactions with the state, political parties, and the parliament. By examining a central agenda to most movements in the Iberia ? the reproductive rights agenda, I explain why two countries with similar democratic rights provided to women; organizationally weak women´s movements; a political environment dominated by parties; similar fascist experiences; patriarchical cultures; and strong Catholic counter-movements; nonetheless had very different reproductive rights policies and services. I hypothesize that in Spain more than in Portugal the women?s movement could count with the presence of influential allies (the Socialist Party) and with increased possibilities for legal collective action (due to the regional configuration of the Spanish state). Using archival research and interviews this paper seeks to explain the relative impact of women?s movements in two democratization processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
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