Farida Jalalzai

Beyond Hillary and Benazir: Women’s Political Leadership Worldwide

Women have recently made dramatic gains in electoral politics, winning a number of high profile positions of national leadership and a record number of seats in parliaments around the world. This article surveys and analyzes these developments, seeking to understand why women’s representation has increased in some countries but not in others, as well as what these patterns indicate about changes in the status of women in political life. It concludes with some reflections on the gendered nature of the public sphere and what these shifts might mean for women as a group.

Women Rule: Shattering the Executive Glass Ceiling

Using qualitative and quantitative techniques, this article compares nearly all cases of women presidents and prime ministers in power between 1960 through 2007. In a comparative gender analysis, I focus on the impact of institutional and structural factors on the ways in which women acquire their positions and on the type of executive authority exercised. Women are more likely to enter office when their powers are relatively few and constrained. The political systems in which they lead generally feature fragmented executive power arrangements, including a dual executive structure. Women also enter in politically unstable contexts and in countries lacking political institutionalization, frequently as members of privileged groups. Findings indicate that comparative politics research needs to explore the gendered connections between executive positions and authority, power, and independence.

Shattered, cracked or firmly intact? : women and the executive glass ceiling worldwide

Contents Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Women Executives-the Literature Chapter 3 Women Executives-Positions, Selections, Systems, and Powers Chapter 4 A More in Depth Analysis of Executive Positions and Paths Chapter 5 General Backgrounds of Women Leaders Chapter 6 Specific Pathways to Power: Political Families and Activism Chapter 7 A Statistical Analysis of Womens Rule Chapter 8 An Overview of Female Presidential Candidacies Chapter 9 Close But Not Close Enough-the Historic Candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Segolene Royal Chapter 10 Conclusions on Women Executives and Directions for Future Research Appendix References

Madam President: Gender, Power, and the Comparative Presidency

This article examines the paths and powers of women who have occupied presidential positions around the world from 1974 through 2008. While women have had less success in obtaining presidential posts compared to prime ministerial offices, there have been recent notable gains. Developing a typology of presidential positions, I find that presidential positions are still overwhelmingly dominated by men. Moreover, men tend to hold greater powers in their presidential posts than women. Strong women presidents are still exceedingly rare, particularly those elected by popular vote and absent familial ties to male leaders. Overall, the comparative presidency continues to be a male domain.

The Politics of Muslims in America

This article analyzes political participation and the attitudes of Muslim-Americans. Assessing national patterns, the first part highlights several regression models, discerning the impact of race/ethnicity, gender, foreign born status, age, and education on political activity and attitudes. I also compare changes in voting patterns among respondents between the 2000 and 2004 elections. The second half is based on in-depth interviews of Muslims from St. Louis, Missouri, probing more directly particular shifts in views and participation since September 11. Among the national sample, South Asians and Middle Easterners largely supported Republican George W. Bush in 2000, while African-Americans voted for Democrat Al Gore. However, by 2004, race and ethnicity were no longer statistically significant factors dividing the Muslim vote; instead, support largely went to Democrat John Kerry. Changes in voting patterns between 2000 and 2004 were also evident in the St. Louis sample of South Asians and Middle Easterners. They generally cited unfavorable views of Muslim treatment both at home and abroad since the War on Terror began as major reasons for these changes. Partisan and voting shifts were not evident among African-Americans, who have been consistent Democrats. However, many African-Americans in addition to Middle Easterners and South Asians reported heightened interest in politics and similar changes since September 11. Only Bosnians, who are relatively new to the United States, report few changes. This is largely because they have yet to develop firm political identities. Among both samples, Muslim-Americans generally exhibit high rates of participation in various political activities, many reporting increasing interest and involvement since September 11. Therefore, regardless of the hardships they may currently feel, Muslim-Americans are not hiding in the shadows but are fully participating in the political sphere.

The Dilma Effect? Women's Representation under Dilma Rousseff's Presidency

Women are making important strides as presidents in Latin America as of late. This trend became evident in 2006 when Michelle Bachelet gained the Chilean presidency. Cristina Fernandez followed shortly thereafter in Argentina. In 2010, Dilma Rousseff (popularly referred to as “Dilma”) joined this small yet growing group of women when she was elected the first female president of Brazil. Dilmas victory was no surprise since she had the support of the very popular outgoing president Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva. Nevertheless, the fact that Dilma is a woman is noteworthy given that Brazils political system is overwhelmingly male dominated at all levels of government (Araujo 2010; Bohns 2007; Miguel 2008). Dilmas significance also stems from the fact that, unlike most women national leaders around the world, she occupies a relatively strong presidency, gained office through popular election, and lacked family ties to power (Jalalzai 2013).

Forecasting the Presidential Vote in the States, 1948-2004: An Update, Revision, and Extension of a State-Level Presidential Forecasting Model

SUMMARY This research updates, revises, and extends a forecasting equation of the presidential vote in the states. The original equation was composed of sixteen predictors available well before the election and estimated with data from 531 state elections from 1948 to 1988. The equation was empirically strong, based on objective predictors, and more parsimonious than previous equations. Reexamining the equation with 200 additional state elections from 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 indicates that the equation remains well supported, but suggests several opportunities for improvement. A revised equation has a mean absolute error of 3.2 percentage points and correctly predicts 87 percent of all electoral votes. The extension of the analysis adapts the forecast equation to predict electoral vote winners, conducting a logit analysis that takes into account both the size of the state and the closeness of its previous election. This produces more accurate forecasts of both electoral vote winners in the states and the division of the aggregate national electoral vote.

Anxious and Active: Muslim Perception of Discrimination and Treatment and its Political Consequences in the Post-September 11, 2001 United States

Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative analysis, this article assesses discrimination and anxiety among Muslims in the post-September 11, 2001 United States. Substantial portions of Muslim-Americans are indeed anxious and report personal and group discrimination. However, this is guided by many factors including religious salience, age, education, political attentiveness, native born status, and years lived in the United States. Respondents who are more anxious and know victims of religious discrimination are also more active in politics. However, personal experiences with discrimination are unrelated to political participation. Overall, in spite of or perhaps because of anxiety over their present status, Muslim-Americans are highly functional in the political sphere. Many are now more active in politics than prior to September 11, 2001.

Political Widowhood in the United States: An Empirical Assessment of Underlying Assumptions of Representation

One of the earliest paths to power for women in the United States Congress was through political widowhood. In fact, this route to office still exists today. While literature on widows primarily explores factors associated with their entrances into Congress, this article examines their actions once in office by comparing their behavior to that of their late husbands. Specific questions explored include: do widows share the same political ideologies as their husbands? Do they vote differently on policy issues, particularly those considered important to women? Are they more likely to sponsor womens issues bills? Examining differences among these pairs offers a unique test for assessing the potential gender differences between male and female legislators. Thus its significance extends beyond the literature on political widows, and adds to the growing research assessing the impact of gender on the substantive representation of women.

Gender, presidencies, and prime ministerships in Europe: Are women gaining ground?

To what extent have women made progress in attaining presidential and prime ministerial positions in Europe? We might expect women in this region to have made significant strides in executive office holding, given the more favorable political, cultural, and social conditions women face. At the same time, Europe is not monolithic. The diversity within one large region allows not only for an assessment of the conditions best facilitating women’s executive incorporation but also the ability to scrutinize the degree to which they exercise more substantial powers. While Europe boasts the greatest numbers of women executives to date, women face many limits in the type of positions they occupy and powers afforded their offices, although important exceptions surface. Statistically, women’s success relates to dual executive structures. Likewise critical is the pipeline from which future leaders are recruited. Prospects for women leaders in Eastern Europe appear less auspicious than for their West European counterparts, further demonstrating women’s uneven advances. Numbers, pathways, and political clout shape women’s advancement in this historically male preserve, resulting in mixed progress overall.