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Thriving or Dividing? The Women's Movement and the Independence Referenda in Scotland and Catalonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2018

Alba Alonso
Alba Alonso*
Affiliation:
University of Santiago de Compostela
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Abstract

Territorial debates have recently shaken the political systems in Scotland and Catalonia, leading to referenda on independence. This article engages with questions concerning whether this extraordinary process has affected the women's movement and why. Specifically, feminist scholars have often expressed concern regarding how strong territorial identities and nationalist projects might prove detrimental to the movement's unity and success. Here, I look for indications of engagement and revival within the frames of the Scottish and Catalan referendum campaigns. A comparative approach revealed the mobilizing potential of these contexts when certain conditions were present. While the women's movement in Scotland has thrived in the last couple of years, territorial debates in Catalonia have not provided fertile ground for feminist campaigning and have shown divisive potential. The specific dynamics of the women's movement in each setting and the presence of political and discursive opportunity structures account for the different outcomes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 460 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2018 

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Footnotes

I wish to thank Tània Verge, Fiona Mackay, and Karen Celis for their support; the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments; and all the people who kindly agreed to be interviewed for this research.

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