RELIGION AND GENDER POLITICS IN LITHUANIA: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S EFFORTS TO HINDER THE RATIFICATION OF THE ISTANBUL CONVENTION.

This paper seeks to understand how the Catholic Church manages its involvement in gender politics in Lithuania and exerts power. Lithuania signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the so-called Istanbul Convention) in 2013 but ratification efforts continue to date. The Convention has become a political "hot potato" and caused ideological confrontations. The Catholic Church is here a political actor, leveraging its influence across multiple levels and cycles of the political decision-making process. NGOs have initiated campaigns in attempt to counter the discourse of oppositional conservative and religious political actors. I utilize anonymous in-depth interviews with various relevant actors to gain a more accurate and nuanced picture of the Church's engagement in holding back the ratification efforts. Ultimately, this case study also enriches theoretical literature on institutional opportunity structures and informal institutions in relation to religious influence in morality policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]