Georgina Waylen

Gender and democratic politics: a comparative analysis of consolidation in Argentina and Chile.

This article highlights a number of themes useful in the gendered analysis of democratic consolidation in Latin America by means of a comparative analysis of Argentina and Chile. It starts from the assumption that much of the work on democratization in Latin America--both orthodox and the literature concentrating on women and transitions--produced up until now has been too voluntaristic in its approach. It argues that what is needed particularly in the study of democratic consolidation is an analysis not only of the impact of women and womens organizations on institutions and structures but also of how these institutions and structures can shape and change gender relations and different womens activities. Any gendered analysis of democratic consolidation must begin by examining the terms of transition which while they can be subject to some renegotiation later affect the nature of the subsequent system and the space available to different actors. It is argued that a number of characteristics of the post-transition system are significant: first the impact of more arbitrary populist or presidential systems second the importance of womens organizing both inside and outside the state and party systems and third the existence of an institutionalized party system. (authors)

Women's Mobilization and Gender Outcomes in Transitions to Democracy The Case of South Africa

This article explores the conditions under which womens mobilizations during transitions to democracy can achieve some of their aims. It broadens the comparative analysis of gender and transitions undertaken to date by looking at a case in which gender outcomes, measured in terms of womens descriptive and substantive representation, have been relatively positive. Unusually women, organized as women, had some input into the negotiations during the South African transition. The article argues that a complex interaction of variables contributed to the achievement of certain positive gender outcomes. A broad womens coalition, the Womens National Coalition, did play an important role. However, two other sets of factors—a favorable political opportunity structure and the strategic actions and alliances of certain key women actors— made a crucial contribution to its effectiveness in influencing this transition, as womens mobilization on its own is no guarantee of success.

The Feminist Potential of Sociological Institutionalism

On the face of it, there is considerable potential for productive dialogue between sociological institutionalism (SI) and institutionally oriented feminist political science (FPS). Both approaches employ broad conceptions of the political and its interconnection with the social: Each is concerned with the interaction between actors and institutions, broadly defined; the interplay between formal rules and informal practices, norms, and “ways of doing things”; and the consequent effects of these dynamics. Each approach takes a “value-critical” stance, sharing an understanding that seemingly neutral institutional processes and practices are, in fact, embedded in norms and cognitive frames, and in wider cultural contexts. In this short essay, we argue that SI provides one fruitful source for tools and paradigms beyond conventional political science (Lovenduski 1998; Mackay 2004), tools that may potentially enhance feminist analyses of key questions such as the following: How are institutions and institutional processes gendered? By what processes and mechanisms are institutions (re)produced and, in turn, reflect and reproduce social systems, including gender relations? How do institutions constrain actors and interests? And what is the gendered potential for, and what are the limits of, institutional innovation, reform, and change in pursuit of gender justice?

Putting Governance into the Gendered Political Economy of Globalization

This article argues that the gendered analyses of governance and globalization should be integrated, because if we believe that globalization is not an immutable and irresistible force, our analyses of globalization can only be improved by a greater understanding of the gendered ways in which these processes are constructed and regulated. This understanding can also help to overcome the false dichotomy between structure and agency by helping to make clear the many ways in which actors interact with global structures and processes. Drawing on the diverse bodies of work on globalization and governance, this article focuses on four inter-related areas that are relevant to the development of a gendered political economy of governance and globalization. First it examines the processes associated with globalization, because although identified primarily with the analysis of globalization alone, an understanding of this area forms a preliminary building block for any integrated analysis. The subsequent three categories have been identified with the study of both governance and globalization and therefore are central to this endeavour. They are: the policies that have been linked to globalization; the norms, discourses and ideologies associated with globalization and its policies; and finally the contemporary forms of womens organizing that have been linked to globalization. The final section of the article examines some recent gender work that takes forward the task of integrating the analysis of gender, governance and globalization.

Researching ritual and the symbolic in parliaments: An institutionalist perspective

This article proposes a new research agenda for understanding and analysing legislatures and their activities together with some additional tools and approaches hitherto rather neglected within legislative studies that could be used more systematically to help us to unravel and answer key questions. In particular, it suggests that we need to broaden the approaches used in legislative studies so that they can incorporate not just a wider range of institutional approaches than are commonly used in the field at the moment, but also another missing dimension – ritual and the symbolic (R&S) – within that. It focuses on ritual within institutionalist analysis and argues that the incorporation of ritual actually fits in with recent developments in the wider field of institutional analysis that have focused on the centrality of rules, norms and both formal and informal institutions in understanding institutions. The development of this approach will enhance both institutional analyses and legislative studies.

A Comparative Politics of Gender: Limits and Possibilities

I explore some of the limits and possibilities for a comparative politics of gender (CPG). It argues that a CPG should analyze how major political processes and institutions are gendered thereby increasing our understanding of the major themes of comparative politics and enhancing the subfield. But a CPG should also go beyond this. It should be problem driven and should seek to answer some big questions that are important for any efforts to achieve gender equality such as how political change that lessens gender inequality occurs; and how positive gender outcomes come about in a range of contexts. A CPG therefore has an integral connection to a feminist project. I explore some of these themes using the recent literature on gender and transitions to democracy to answer the question under what circumstances can the gender outcomes of transitions be positive.

Gender and governance: democratic consolidation and economic reform

This article explores the themes of democratization, participation and accountability, through the analysis of gender and simultaneous economic and political reform in Argentina, Chile and Peru. It argues for a framework which examines both the activities of the actors involved as well as the structures and institutions which constrain them. It begins by examining the terms of transition before moving on the consolidation of competitive electoral politics. After a discussion of appropriate approaches, the second half begins the gendered analysis of economic reform by focusing on social sector adjustment and changes in patterns of income generation. Copyright

Radical Women in Latin America: Left and Right. Edited by Victoria Gonzalez and Karen Kampwirth. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001. 352p.

In recent years more attention has begun to be paid to the different forms of womens engagement with the conventional political arena in Latin America. This interest partly reflects the impact of transitions to democracy and the demobilization of social movements. But it also reflects a change of approach by many of the scholars examining womens political activities as they have reassessed the importance of institutions and the salience of “politics.”