Synopses & Reviews
How have women's movements responded as state governments delegated power to transnational organizations like the European Union? Have they facilitated the shifts in state policy responsibilities to subnational governments, independent agencies, and the private sector? This study examines how women's movements have contributed and responded to changes in state powers and policy responsibility in North America and Western Europe. The international scholars contributing to this volume identify movement changes that include greater engagement with the state, specific policy-making ventures and challenges to national governments.
Review
"The clearly drawn parameters of this volume are extremely helpful in guiding the reader through the richness of the case studies and the complexity of the relationships between movements and states.... In conclusion, this is an extraordinarily impressive collection of essays. It raises important questions about the nature of women's movements in advanced industrial democracies, the future of such movements, the influence these movements have had on the state, and the characteristics of national social movements that lead to success." Journal of Peace Research"A very interesting and important volume. It focuses on an issue--the changing relationship between women's movements and the state, which is or ought to be central to feminist political analysis. It makes a valuable contribution to scholarship in the field. The Introduction sets up a number of significant and timely questions which are taken up by the contributing authors to generate both illuminating interpretations of recent developments and material and ideas for much future 'theory building'." Vicky Randall, University of Essex"The product of a highly successful collaborative effort, Women's Movements Facing the Reconfigured State sets an exciting new agenda for cross-national, interdisciplinary research on the politics of feminism and social movements. It advances social movement theory by emphasizing and illustrating the importance and strategic nature of movement-state interactions. It expands our knowledge of women's movements by placing them in a comparative context that not only includes multiple nations, but also spans multiple decades. While carefully avoiding over-generalizations, the authors offer a number of provocative conclusions regarding movement gains and losses, winners and losers, in the process of state configuration." Beth Reingold, Emory University"This volume contributes ... valuable insights ... to the growing literature on interactions between social movements and states by providing new empirical evidence as well as new comparative analyses and theoretical insights. Highly recommended." Choice
Review
"A very interesting and important volume. It focuses on an issue--the changing relationship between women's movements and the state, which is or ought to be central to feminist political analysis. It makes a valuable contribution to scholarship in the field. The Introduction sets up a number of significant and timely questions which are taken up by the contributing authors to generate both illuminating interpretations of recent developments and material and ideas for much future 'theory building'." Vicky Randall, University of Essex"The product of a highly successful collaborative effort, Women's Movements Facing the Reconfigured State sets an exciting new agenda for cross-national, interdisciplinary research on the politics of feminism and social movements. It advances social movement theory by emphasizing and illustrating the importance and strategic nature of movement-state interactions. It expands our knowledge of women's movements by placing them in a comparative context that not only includes multiple nations, but also spans multiple decades. While carefully avoiding over-generalizations, the authors offer a number of provocative conclusions regarding movement gains and losses, winners and losers, in the process of state configuration." Beth Reingold, Emory University"This volume contributes ... valuable insights ... to the growing literature on interactions between social movements and states by providing new empirical evidence as well as new comparative analyses and theoretical insights. Highly recommended." Choice
Synopsis
Examines how women"s movements have contributed and responded to changes in state powers and policy responsibility in North America and Western Europe. The scholars contributing chapters to this volume identify changes in women"s movements that include a greater engagement with the state, specific policy-making ventures and challenges to national governments.
Synopsis
Examines the changing relationship between women"s movements and states in Western Europe and North America.
Table of Contents
1. When power relocates: interactive changes in women"s movements and states Lee Ann Banaszak, Karen Beckwith and Dieter Rucht; 2. The feminist movement and the reconfigured state in Spain (1970s'"2000) Celia Valiente; 3. The women"s movement, the left, and the state: continuities and changes in the Italian case Donatella della Porta; 4. Comparing two movements for gender parity: France and Spain Jane Jenson and Celia Valiente; 5. Refuge in reconfigured states: shelter movements in the United States, Britain, and Sweden R. Amy Elman; 6. Shifting states: women"s constitutional organizing across time and space Alexandra Dobrowolsky; 7. The women"s movement policy successes and the constraints of state reconfiguration: abortion and equal pay in differing eras Lee Ann Banaszak; 8. The gendering ways of states: women"s representation and state reconfiguration in France, Great Britain, and the United States Karen Beckwith; 9. 'Re-dividing citizens" - divided feminisms: the reconfigured US state and women"s citizenship Mary Fainsod Katzenstein; 10. Cultural continuity and structural change: the logic of adaptation by radical, liberal, and socialist feminists to state reconfiguration Carol McClung Mueller and John D. McCarthy; 11. Interactions between social movements and states in a comparative perspective Dieter Rucht; 12. Restating the woman question: women"s movements and state restructuring David S. Meyer.