Celeste Montoya

Latino Mobilization in New Immigrant Destinations: The Anti—H.R. 4437 Protest in Nebraska's Cities

We use the 2006 immigrant-rights protests as a point of departure to test whether political opportunity structures aligned to spur widespread immigrant mobilization in new immigrant destinations. The existing immigrant mobilization scholarship would predict the absence of protest in areas of new migration because of their low levels of immigrant civic infrastructure. Through a detailed study of the immigrant-rights protests and their aftermath in Nebraska, we find that the unifying effect of the anti-immigrant legislation on immigrant-ethnic communities nationally allowed immigrants and their leaders to seize the opportunities presented by shifting local politics, new communications technologies, and the growing migrant civil societies in new destinations to spur widespread, if short-lived, mobilization.

From Global to Grassroots: The European Union, Transnational Advocacy, and Combating Violence Against Women

Table of Contents 1. Transnational Translations of Global Rhetoric into Local Realities 2. Patterns and Strategies of Global-Domestic Interactions 3. Mapping Advocacy in European Union Multilevel Governance 4. Embedded Networks and Transnational Advocacy 5. The Soft Approach to Zero Tolerance: Normative Discourses on Violence against Women 6. Conditionality and Coercion: The Accession Process and Combating Violence against Women 7. Building Networks, Building Capacity: The Daphne Program 8. Domestic Development: Legislation, Programs, and Attitudes 9. Future Prospects for Eradicating Violence against Women Appendix Bibliography Index

International Initiative and Domestic Reforms: European Union Efforts to Combat Violence against Women

Since the 1990s, many countries have adopted policies aimed at combating violence against women; however, despite widespread policy adoption, actual reform has been uneven at best. In this article, I analyze the role played by international organizations and transnational networks in promoting womens human rights. In the first section, I examine the different mechanisms by which states adopt new policies and the implications they have on prospects for implementation. I propose a new model, the umbrella pattern, that accounts for the decoupling of policy and practice caused by states with limited local capacity. In addition, I argue that international organizations can improve the prospects for domestic implementation by engaging in capacity-building strategies, such as resource distribution and the facilitation of transnational networks. In the second section, I present an empirical study of the European Union and its efforts to address violence against women. In regards to policy adoption, I evaluate its efforts at policy promotion and then provide a comparative and aggregate analysis of policy adoption in member and candidate states. To address EU capacity-building efforts, I focus on one particular initiative, the Daphne project, which is the EUs primary mechanism for addressing gender violence.

The European Union, Capacity Building, and Transnational Networks: Combating Violence Against Women Through the Daphne Program

One of the ways that international organizations promote policy agendas is through the use of management strategies, including initiatives that focus on domestic capacity building. As the European Union (EU) has evolved, it has used management strategies to expand its influence over a multitude of policy issues in innovative ways. This research note provides an empirical examination of how the EU has used capacity building strategies in an effort to address violence against women. In particular, I focus on EU efforts to build the capacity of domestic advocacy organizations through the distribution of resources and the facilitation of transnational networking. By using data I collected on the Daphne program, the EUs primary mechanism for addressing gender violence, and by employing both qualitative and social network analysis, I provide empirical evidence that demonstrates how the EU has provided new political opportunities for domestic organizations to improve their capacity to combat violence against women. I would like to acknowledge the following people for their comments and support at various stages of this project: Lee Ann Banaszak, Steven Bloom, Tobin Grant, Phil Habel, Scott McClurg, Emma Moburg-Jones, Meg Rincker, Steve Shulman, Fred Solt, Gina Yannitell Reinhardt, Michelle Wade, and anonymous reviewers.

Tracking the Latino Gender Gap: Gender Attitudes across Sex, Borders, and Generations

Many cultural stereotypes exist regarding the “modernity” of values possessed by Latino immigrants, particularly in reference to gender norms. Common perceptions about Latin machismo and marianismo (the idea that women should be pure and moral) do not paint a portrait of gender egalitarian dispositions. These assessments are upheld by neomodernization theorists who specifically identify gender attitudes as a critical element of modernity. In applying a revised modernization theory to the issue of comparative gender values, Inglehart and Norris (2003, 10) hypothesize that development “brings about changed cultural attitudes toward gender equality in virtually any society that experiences the various forms of modernization linked with economic development.” The idea that gender equality norms develop gradually, as a function of modernization, gives rise to different expectations about accepted gender roles in developing countries as opposed to those in advanced industrial democracies. Another feature of this modernization process is the emergence of gender gaps in political behavior and attitudes. Inglehart and Norris (2000) distinguish between traditional gender gaps found in postcommunist and developing societies (in which women are more conservative in their behavior and cultural attitudes relative to men) and modern gender gaps evident in postindustrial societies (in which women are more progressive than men).

Thirty years of judicial retention elections: an update

Abstract This article updates prior reports on the empirical patterns and trends in judicial retention elections. The 3,912 elections encompass both major trial court and appellate court elections in ten states for the period from 1964 through 1994. Reported trends include declines in the affirmative vote, rolloff, and voter differentiation among individual judges. Detailed analysis of defeated judges indicates that regular retention voters quickly remove judges from the bench without any negative consequences for other judges on the ballot.

Women's Movements across Borders: Towards a More Inclusive Conceptualization?

Regardless of the country where one lives, gendered discrimination and outright misogyny are commonplace. In particular, violence against women remains one of the most widespread and pervasive challenges to womens rights. It crosses all boundaries, geographical and social. Economic inequalities within and across countries continue to expand with gendered patterns. Significant gaps remain in education, employment, and healthcare, among many other things. So, the answer to the question, “Do we need a womens movement?” seems obvious. But what form should the mobilization take? Is it the work of a womens movement? A feminist movement? Where do other social justice movements fit in? Where should mobilization take place: locally, nationally, transnationally, or globally? How do we deal with difference? Can universal messages that unite across borders also deal with the unique circumstances of particular locations? In this piece, I pick up on some of the themes raised by other participants in this forum and elaborate on them in global perspective. My intent is not to apply logics of the United States movements elsewhere, but instead to propose insight gathered from broader comparative and transnational studies that might be applied to this discussion.

Challenging Parties, Changing Parliaments: Women and Elected Office in Contemporary Western Europe . By Miki Caul Kittilson

Challenging Parties, Changing Parliaments: Women and Elected Office in Contemporary Western Europe . By Miki Caul Kittilson. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. 2006. 190 pp.

Politics Close to Home: The Impact of Meso-level Institutions on Women in Politics

64.95 cloth,

The Othering of Domestic Violence: The EU and Cultural Framings of Violence against Women

24.95 paper. This is an ambitious book that takes a comprehensive and multimethod approach to understanding the question of womens participation in parliaments. Miki Caul Kittilson proposes a gendered-institutions argument that focuses on political parties as the key mechanism for increases in womens parliamentary representation. She moves away from supply arguments that place the onus on women to run by instead focusing on how parties can be transformed to encourage women to run. She argues that women will be most effective in their efforts to gain a political foothold where they “recognize favorable conditions within the party and party system, and where they devise context-contingent strategies for inclusion” (p. 2).