Abortion Politics, Women's Movements and the Democratic State examines the impact of women's movements since the 1960s on the policy-making processes determining abortion laws. The impact of women's movements is assessed in terms of their success in increasing the democratic representation of women generally and movement organizations specifically. Rather than asking 'how many women are in political office' this study asks 'to what extent are women included in the day to day process of making decisions?' Of special interest in this project is the extent to which states, through establishment of women's policy agencies, have assisted, opposed, or ignored the demands of movement activists for access to power and for feminist abortion policies. Researchers have examined these questions in policy debates over the last four decades in 11 advanced industrial democracies: Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. The findings of this cross-national longitudinal study document that women's movements have been successful in gaining both substantive and descriptive representation on abortion policy in a majority of the 32 debates studied. The ability of women's policy offices to provide a necessary and effective linkage between women's movement activism and increased democratic representation in policy- making varies both cross-nationally and over time. The openness of policy subsystems and the status of the parties on the left are factors that interact with variations in movement cohesion and resources to account for these variations.

This book examines how feminist movements have contested the dominant discourses and state politics that have impeded women's autonomy over their bodies since the late 1960s. It deals with two important facets of this struggle, prostitution and the right to abortion, as they relate to the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

This collection, originally published in 2007, offers a diachronic analytical study of new and alternative social movements in Spain from the democratic transition to the first decade of the 21st century, paying attention to anti-war mobilizations and the use of new technologies as a mobilizing resource. New and alternative social movements are studied through the prism of identified linkages among the left, movement identities and global processes in the Spanish context. Weight is given to certain important historical aspects, like Spain’s relatively recent authoritarian past, and certain value-added factors, such as the weak associationalism and materialism exhibited by the Spanish public. These are complemented by exploring insights offered by key theoretical approaches on social movements (political opportunities structures, resource mobilization). The volume covers established social movement cases (gender, peace, environmental movements) as well as those with a more explicit connection to the current context of global contestation (squatters’ and anti-globalization movements). This bookw as published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.

In Women’s Rights in the USA, Fourth Edition, Dorothy E. McBride again examines the policy debates critical to women in politics. Tracing the development of these debates over time in order to illustrate their historical context, McBride shows how these issues have evolved and how they have led to the policies and laws of today. She also examines the evolving attitudes of the feminists and advocacy groups behind these debates as they grapple with the tensions between the themes of equality and sex difference as they relate to women’s rights. The book also looks at women’s place in shaping the policies, statutes, and laws—from "liberal" activists to policy insiders—and how those roles shape the debates and issues that move forward today. In a broader context, by following these debates as they move through government institutions to become policies and laws, this book shows students the law-making process through issues that directly affect their lives. Of crucial significance is the acknowledgement that these debates do not end when court decisions, policies, and laws are made, but continue on to foster further movements, viewpoints, and political change. This fourth edition features updates on the most vital issues concerning women’s rights today: constitutional equality, reproduction, education, family, work, work & family, regulation and intimidation of sexuality, and economic status.

The most effective way to deal with prostitution has always been hotly debated by governments and women s movements alike. Feminists want it abolished or regulated as sex work; governments have to safeguard public health and order. This book shows how women s movements in Western Europe, North America and Australia have affected politics on prostitution and trafficking of women since the 1970s, asking what made them successful in some countries but a failure in others. It also assesses whether government institutions to advance the status of women - so-called women s policy agencies - have played a key role in achieving policy outcomes favourable to movement demands. Written by an international team of experts and based on original sources, all chapters follow the same framework to ensure comparability. The final chapter offers an overall comparison identifying what makes women s movements successful and women s agencies effective, presenting the case for state feminism .

Although grass-roots social movements are an important force of social and political change, they quite often fail to achieve their lofty goals. Similarly, the inability of research to systematically explain the impact of such movements stands in sharp contrast to their emotional appeal. Protest, Opportunities, and Mechanisms attempts to rejuvenate current scholarship by developing a comprehensive theory of social movements and political change. In addition to reviewing the existing literature on the political outcomes of social movements, this volume analyzes the examples of the American civil rights movement and anti-nuclear energy efforts in eighteen countries to forge a new understanding of their momentous impact.

Most Western democracies established women's policy agencies to improve the status of women by the 1990s. One of the book's key questions is how have women's policy agencies been able to develop, maintain or enhance their roles in the transformed political context and how have women's movements adapted to change in twelve states.

Examining the changing pluralities of contemporary abortion debate in Britain, this innovative and important book shows why it is necessary to move beyond an understanding of abortion politics as characterised in binary terms by ‘pro-choice’ versus ‘pro-life’. Amery traces the evolution of political and parliamentary discourses from the passage of the Abortion Act in the 1960s to the present day, and argues that the current provision of abortion in Britain rests on assumptions about medical authority over women’s reproductive decision-making which are unsustainable. She explores new arguments around sex-selective abortion, disability rights, pre-abortion counselling and the push for decriminalization, and radically reconceptualizes the debate to account for these new battlegrounds in abortion politics.

Since Roe v. Wade, abortion has continued to be a divisive political issue in the United States. In contrast, it has remained primarily a medical issue in Britain and Canada despite the countries’ shared heritage. Doctors and Demonstrators looks beyond simplistic cultural or religious explanations to find out why abortion politics and policies differ so dramatically in these otherwise similar countries. Drew Halfmann argues that political institutions are the key. In the United States, federalism, judicial review, and a private health care system contributed to the public definition of abortion as an individual right rather than a medical necessity. Meanwhile, Halfmann explains, the porous structure of American political parties gave pro-choice and pro-life groups the opportunity to move the issue onto the political agenda. A groundbreaking study of the complex legal and political factors behind the evolution of abortion policy, Doctors and Demonstrators will be vital for anyone trying to understand this contentious issue.

In 2002 a distinguished interdisciplinary group of scholars gathered at the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society at the University of Arkansas to provide a critical evaluation of the Clinton-Gore administration. Their groundbreaking assessment of the most controversial president in modern times treats such crucial topics as race, women, and minorities; the character issue; foreign policy; and the media. This book provides a unique vantage point on the "Clinton riddle” that all future studies will need to consider.