Lori Poloni-Staudinger

Are consensus democracies more environmentally effective

Are consensus democracies more likely to enact environmentally friendly policies than majoritarian democracies? The relationship between democratic type and environmental effectiveness is more complex than previously assumed. What matters are not only institutions but also the nature of the policy issues, the types of institutions and veto players in the system. Four measures of effectiveness emerged from the data: mundane environmentalism; environmental taxation; conservation; and nuclear energy production. Environmental effectiveness in democratic systems differs depending upon which measure of effectiveness is examined and whether or not one looks at representational or organisational aspects of democracy.

Women defining terrorism: ethnonationalist, state, and machista terrorism

This article explores definitions of terrorism according to various women in the Basque regions of Spain and France. We ask how women in social movements and government institutions define terrorism, how terrorism influences them, and whether they are viewed as victims of violence and/or as political agents who challenge terrorism. We discuss three definitions of terrorism: ethnonationalist terrorism of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), state terrorism against ETA operatives and supporters, and terrorismo machista (or intimate terrorism seen as gender violence). The article uncovers multiple women’s lived experiences related to terrorism, and by problematising agency and definitions of terrorism, it challenges the binary in international relations of women as either victims or violent perpetrators of terrorism and it establishes terrorismo machista as political violence closely related to other forms of political violence. We conclude that women are important political agents regarding multiple types of terrorism.

Gendered Political Opportunities? Elite Alliances, Electoral Cleavages, and Activity Choice Among Women's Groups in the UK, France, and Germany

This article examines the impact of political opportunity structures (POS) on the activity choices of womens groups in the UK, France, and Germany in order to determine whether political opportunities, specifically elite alliances and changes in electoral cleavages, are gendered. We ask how/whether various institutional structures impact the activity choices of womens groups, gauging whether women react to opportunities in a similar manner as other social groups, namely environmental groups. We find that social democratic elite allies and electoral cleavages prompted by de-alignment influence activity choice among womens groups in a similar manner as among environmental groups, yet the data show that womens groups are disenfranchised from direct contact with policymaking elites through consultation, thus suggesting the presence of gendered POS.

Women Policymakers Framing their Leadership and Lives in Relation to Terrorism: The Basque Case

ABSTRACT We examine terrorism from the perspective of women political elites in the Basque regions of Spain and France, asking whether women are present as policymakers in terrorism politics and how they frame the impact of terrorism on their leadership and lives. To assess women’s presence as policymakers, we report the representation of Spanish and French women in executive leadership and terrorism-related portfolios. We find that women are not equally represented, and they do not participate at the highest levels of terrorism policymaking. To understand how women frame their leadership and lives as related to terrorism, we analyze 14 interviews of women politicians, in which women express that they are equal to men and frame their actions in terms of maternal identity and their claimed ability to relate to citizens. By reporting the frames women politicians use to describe themselves, this article shows how women politicians negotiate gender identities as related to terrorism policy and shows that women politicians have a complex understanding of gender as it relates to equality, care, and terrorism.

Gender and Counter-Terrorism

“Most of the kids were sick and coughing. Our answer was handing out stuffed animals. Then we gave the women toothpaste and hygiene products and began to explain what they were. “We know what they are,” one woman said, “We just don’t have them.” I quickly felt the impact of our good intentions running head-long into systemic issues and our own ignorance.” (Tessa Poppe qtd. in Ricks 2016 [np])

Women Engaged in Violent Activity as Terrorists, Guerrillas and Genocidaires

“Diana Marcela, 28, has spent 13 years with FARC and hopes to finish high school and study photography after demobilising.” “Johana, 19, has spent six years with FARC and wants to study nursing.” “Rubiela, 32, plans to study dentistry after 10 years with FARC.” (Qtd. in Vergara 2016 [np]).

Women as Victims of Political Violence, Genocide and Gendercide

The media often portray women as caught up in a situation of terrorism – not as protagonists but as bystanders or victims. Osama bin Laden’s wives, discussed in Chap. 1, are often discussed collectively, along with their children, as beings influenced by terrorism but not precisely related to it. In 2012, Pakistan placed three of bin Laden’s wives, who were present during the US raid of the Abbottabad compound, under house arrest for a month for having illegally entered Pakistan. After serving their sentence, it was unclear where these women and children would go. While they were not believed to be active in Al Qaeda, their home countries, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, did not jump to get them back from Pakistan. The two Saudi wives, Khairiah Sabar and Siham Sabar, had lost their citizenship along with Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, yet, on humanitarian grounds, Saudi Arabia eventually accepted them and bin Laden’s younger, Yemeni wife, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah. Today, they live together in a compound outside of Jeddah. These women and their children were portrayed as passive, bending to the will of governments. In a sense, they were “victims” of association with bin Laden, not actors with their own agency.

Women as Victims of Political Violence, Terrorism

Shenila Khoja-Moolji, an academic and expert on gender and education, debates the victimization of girls seeking education in Pakistan. She points out that extremists, such as those in the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP; Taliban Movement of Pakistan), stop girls from attending schools by destroying schools as well as attacking individual women, but she also critiques the West for perpetuating a narrative that women in South Asia are uneducated and in need of being rescued by foreign organizations (Khoja-Moolji 2016). She states: “Girls’ education – or, lack thereof – thus, has become a way in which Western institutions have established their own superiority and, simultaneously, the inferiority of Islam and Muslims, deeming interventions necessary and even ethically imperative.” (Khoja-Moolji 2016 [np])

Poltical Violence, Terrorism, and Elites

In many countries, including the United States, countering terrorism is linked to military action (though counterterrorism can include non-military approaches (see Chap. 10). As a result, terrorism, like military affairs, can be viewed as a man’s game, associated with the need for tough and assertive leadership. This sentiment arguably surfaced in November of the United States’ 2016 presidential election, when Donald Trump discussed Hillary Clinton’s qualifications. He said, “When I look at these great admirals and these great generals and these great medal of honor recipients behind me ― to think of her being their boss? I don’t think so” (Diamond 2016 [np]). Trump’s claim came years after Clinton had served as Secretary of State. Although Clinton had experience dealing with diplomacy as well as terrorism in that post – including being part of the decision to take out Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden – Trump deemed her unfit for military leadership and broader executive leadership. Moreover, earlier in the campaign he claimed she did not have the physical and mental stamina to fight ISIS.

Women as Victims of Violence and Terrorism

The media often portray women as caught up in a situation of terrorism—not as protagonists but as bystanders or victims. Osama bin Laden’s wives, discussed in Chap. 1, are often discussed collectively, along with their children, as a being influenced by terrorism but not related to it. In 2012, Pakistan placed three of bin Laden’s wives, who were present during the Abbottabad raid, under house arrest for having illegally entered Pakistan. After serving their sentence, it was unclear where these women and children would go. While they were not believed to be active in Al Qaeda, their home countries, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, did not jump to get them back from Pakistan. The two Saudi wives, Khairiah Sabar and Siham Sabar, lost their citizenship along with Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, yet, on humanitarian grounds, Saudi Arabia eventually accepted them and bin Laden’s younger, Yemenese wife, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah. These women and their children were portrayed as passive, bending to the will of governments. In a sense, they were “victims” of association with bin Laden, not actors with their own agency.