Women's Movements Facing the Reconfigured State - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052181278X ISBN 13: 9780521812788

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2003

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description:

"Women's Movements Facing the Reconfigured State" examines how women's movements have contributed and responded to changes in state powers and policy responsibility in North America and Western Europe. How have women's movements responded as state governments delegated power to transnational organizations like the European Union? Have women's movements facilitated the shifts in state policy responsibilities to subnational governments, independent agencies, and the private sector? The international 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.

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 052181278X
• ISBN 13: 9780521812788
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 374
• Editor: Banaszak Lee Ann, Beckwith Karen, Rucht Dieter