Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:26:08.641Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

International Initiative and Domestic Reforms: European Union Efforts to Combat Violence against Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2009

Celeste Montoya
Celeste Montoya
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the 1990s, many countries have adopted policies aimed at combating violence against women; however, despite widespread policy adoption, actual reform has been uneven at best. In this article, I analyze the role played by international organizations and transnational networks in promoting women's human rights. In the first section, I examine the different mechanisms by which states adopt new policies and the implications they have on prospects for implementation. I propose a new model, the umbrella pattern, that accounts for the decoupling of policy and practice caused by states with limited local capacity. In addition, I argue that international organizations can improve the prospects for domestic implementation by engaging in capacity-building strategies, such as resource distribution and the facilitation of transnational networks. In the second section, I present an empirical study of the European Union and its efforts to address violence against women. In regards to policy adoption, I evaluate its efforts at policy promotion and then provide a comparative and aggregate analysis of policy adoption in member and candidate states. To address EU capacity-building efforts, I focus on one particular initiative, the Daphne project, which is the EU's primary mechanism for addressing gender violence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 325 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adams, Melinda, and Kang, Alice. 2007. “Regional Advocacy Networks and the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.” Politics & Gender 3 (December): 451–74.Google Scholar
Barnett, Michael, and Finnemore, Martha. 2004. Rules for the World: International Organizations and Global Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Bartels, Loran. 2005. Human Rights Conditionality in the EU's International Agreements. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beitz, Charles. 2001. “Human Rights as a Common Concern.” American Political Science Review 94 (2): 269–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkovitch, Nitza. 1999. From Motherhood to Citizenship: Women's Rights and International Organizations. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Boyle, Alan E. 1999. “Some Reflections on the Relationship of Treaties and Soft Law.” The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 48 (4): 901–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunch, Charlotte. 1995. “The Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights: Where Next After Vienna?” St. John's Law Review 69 (1/2): 171–78.Google Scholar
Bunch, Charlotte, and Reilly, Niamh. 1994. Demanding Accountability: The Global Campaign and Vienna Tribunal for Women's Human Rights. New York: UNIFEM.Google Scholar
Cichowski, Rachel. 2002. “No Discrimination Whatsoever: Women's Transnational Activism and the Evolution of EU Sex Equality Policy.” In Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics, ed. Naples, Nancy A. and Desai, Manisha, 220–238. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Council of Europe. 2004. Legislation in the Member States of the Council of Europe in the Field of Violence against Women. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.Google Scholar
Council of Europe. 2007. Legislation in the Member States of the Council of Europe in the Field of Violence against Women. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.Google Scholar
Ellina, Chrystalla A. 2003. Promoting Women's Rights: The Politics of Gender in the European Union. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Elman, Amy. 1996. “Introduction: The EU from Feminist Perspectives.” In Sexual Politics and the European Union, ed. Elman, Amy, 1–12. Providence: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Grabbe, Heather. 2006. The EU's Transformative Power: Europeanization through Conditionality in Central and Eastern Europe. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoskyns, Catherine. 1995. “The European Union and the Women Within: An Overview of Women's Rights Policy.” In Sexual Politics and the European Union, ed. Elman, Amy, 13–22. Providence: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Hoskyns, Catherine. 1999. “Gender and Transnational Democracy: The Case of the European Union.” In Gender Politics in Global Governance, ed. Meyer, Mary K. and Prügl, Elisabeth, 72–87. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Joachim, Jutta. 1999. “Shaping the Human Rights Agenda: The Case of Violence Against Women.” In Gender Politics in Global Governance, ed. Prügl, Elisabeth and Meyer, Mary K., 142–160. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Joachim, Jutta. 2007. Agenda Setting, the UN, and NGOS: Gender Violence and Reproductive Rights. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Kantola, Johanna. 2006. Feminists Theorize the State. Houndsmill, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keck, Margaret E., and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1999. Activists beyond Borders: Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lenz, Ilse. 2003. “Globalization, Gender, and Work: Perspectives on Global Regulation.” Review of Policy Research 20 (1): 21–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, John W., Boli, John, Thomas, George M., and Ramirez, Francisco O.. 1997. “World Society and the Nation-State.” American Journal of Sociology 103 (1): 144–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montoya, Celeste. 2008. “The European Union, Capacity Building, and Transnational Networks: Combating Violence against Women through the Daphne Program.” International Organization, 62 (2): 359–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naples, Nancy A., and Desai, Manisha. 2002. Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pollack, Mark, and Hafner-Burton, Emilie. 2000. “Mainstreaming Gender in the European Union.” Journal of European Public Policy 7 (3): 432–56. Special issue on women power and public policy in Europe.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raustiala, Kal, and Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 2002. International Law and Compliance. In Handbook of International Relations, eds. Calsnaes, Walter, Risse, Thomas, and Simmons, Beth A., 538–58. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, Thomas, and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1999. “The Socialization of International Human Rights Norms into Domestic Practices.” In The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, ed. Risse, Thomas, Ropp, Stephen C., and Sikkink, Kathryn, 1–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank, and Sedelmeier, Ulrich, eds. 2005. The Europeanization of Eastern Europe: Evaluating the Conditionality Model. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Sikkink, Kathryn. 1998. “Transnational Politics, International Relations Theory, and Human Rights.” P.S. Political Science and Politics 31 (3): 516–23.Google Scholar
Sikkink, Kathryn. 2005. “Patterns of Dynamic Multilevel Governance and the Insider-Outsider Coalition.” In Transnational Protest and Global Activism, ed. Porta, Donatella Della and Tarrow, Sidney, 151–74. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Tallberg, Jonas. 2002. “Paths to Compliance: Enforcement, Management, and the European Union.” International Organisations 56 (3): 609–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 2005. The New Transnational Activism. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
True, Jacqui, and Mintrom, Michael. 2001. “Transnational Networks and Policy Diffusion: The Case of Gender Mainstreaming.” International Studies Quarterly. 45 (1): 27–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNIFEM. 2003. Not a Minute More: Ending Violence Against Women. New York: UNIFEM.Google Scholar
Vachudova, Milada. 2005. European Undivided: Democracy, Leverage, and Integration After Communism. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Oran. 1992. “The Effectiveness of International Institutions: Hard Cases and Critical Variables.” In Governance without Government: Order and Change in World Politics, ed. Rosenau, James N. and Czempiel, Ernst-Otto, 160–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar