Mobilization against Sexual Harassment in the European Parliament: The MeTooEP campaign

2021 ◽  
pp. 135050682110492
Author(s):  
Valentine Berthet
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Institutional Rules ◽  
Internal Policy ◽  
Culture Of Silence

The international #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment constitutes the most prominent contemporary campaign against sexual harassment worldwide. It exposed the issue by undermining the ‘culture of silence’ prevailing in several contexts, including political institutions. This article analyses one specific variant of #MeToo, the campaign MeTooEP that emerged in the European Parliament (EP). MeTooEP is unique in many ways: it was the first collective action against sexual harassment in parliaments emerging in the #MeToo aftermath and it was the first collective action within the EP led by members of the staff, which eventually drove some internal policy changes. Using a unique, large interview dataset, the analysis shows how the actors behind MeTooEP were crucial in shaping the campaign. Their knowledge of institutional rules, practices and daily presence in the EP facilitated their advocacy and transformed the Parliament into an enabling platform for their actions. With the help of Feminist Institutionalism, the analysis demonstrates how the formal and informal institutional EP bodies with their rules and regulations shaped MeTooEP in ways that constrained and empowered it.

scholarly journals Gender, Violence, and Political Institutions: Struggles over Sexual Harassment in the European Parliament

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentine Berthet ◽  
Johanna Kantola
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Institutional Response ◽  
Members Of European Parliament

Abstract The global #MeToo movement exposed the prevalence of sexual harassment across countries, in diverse contexts, and within institutions; including the supposedly gender-friendly European Parliament (EP). Using a unique set of interview data with key actors in the #MeTooEP campaign and Members of European Parliament and staff, this article analyzes the discursive struggles around sexual harassment in the EP. The analysis shows how these discourses fundamentally shaped the patchy institutional response to sexual harassment with findings that illuminate the resistance to institutional change.

Two Theories of Effective Government

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the problem of “reform capacity” (the ability of political decision-makers to adopt and implement policy changes that benefit society as a whole, by adjusting public policies to changing economic, social, and political circumstances). The chapter also reviews the long-standing discussion in political science about the relationship between political institutions and effective government. Furthermore, the chapter explains why the possibility of compensation matters greatly for the politics of reform; provides a precise definition of the concept of reform capacity; describes the book's general approach to this problem; and discusses the ethics of compensating losers from reform; and presents the book's methodological approach.

#MeToo as a Connective Movement: Examining the Frames Adopted in the Anti-Sexual Harassment Movement in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 089443932095679
Author(s):  
Pengxiang Li ◽  
Hichang Cho ◽  
Yuren Qin ◽  
Anfan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Treatment Recommendation ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Collective Action Frames ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Personal Action ◽  
Media Platform

This study was aimed to contribute to understanding how networked yet fragmented online actors create meaning in digital media–enabled movements like #MeToo. By drawing upon a multidimensional framing analysis, this study investigated how personal action frames, collective action frames, and issue-specific frames were adopted in #MeToo movement in China, and it also shed light on how different groups of social actors respond to sexual harassment issues on Sina Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. This study employed computational content analysis to extract frames from a huge amount of traceable data (i.e., 16,187 Weibo posts) and uncovered seven specific types of frames categorized as personal experiences and emotional commentary (as personal action frames), injustice and opposition (as collective action frames), and problem definition, treatment recommendation, and related news (as issue-specific frames). The results revealed that personal action frames and collective action frames were widely adopted by females and ordinary users, whereas issue-specific frames were more commonly applied by males and organizational users. These empirical findings enhance our understanding of meaning construction with regard to digital media–enabled movements.

scholarly journals Parliamentarizing a Politicized Policy: Understanding the Involvement of the European Parliament in UN Climate Negotiations

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Delreux ◽  
Charlotte Burns
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Research Question ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
Climate Negotiations ◽  
International Diplomacy ◽  
Internal Policy ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Eu

Climate change is a central topic of concern for EU international diplomacy and is the site of increased politicization globally. Concomitantly, a parallel process of parliamentarization of the EU has unfolded. Whilst the European Parliament (EP) has enjoyed significant powers in internal policy-making on climate change, since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 the EP has gained the right to veto the EU’s ratification of international (climate change) agreements. This development raises questions about our understanding of the EP as an actor in international climate diplomacy that this article addresses through the following research question: What impact have the increased powers of the EP had on its involvement in UN climate diplomacy? We analyze the EP’s evolving role in international climate diplomacy through an evaluation of its policy preferences prior to international climate conferences (COPs) and its activities during those meetings. We find evidence that the EP’s preferences have become more moderate over time, and that it is also more active at COPs and increasingly engaged with a range of more important actors. However, we find little evidence that the EP’s involvement in international negotiations is significantly different when it holds a veto power, which we attribute to a willingness to depoliticize internal EU climate negotiations to secure policy gains at the international level.

Sexual Harassment Training Focused Solely on Protecting Organizations From Lawsuits Won't Change a Toxic Culture for Women to an Inclusive One

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-25
Author(s):  
Darrell Norman Burrell ◽  
Shanel Lu ◽  
Preston Vernard Leicester Lindsay ◽  
Sharon L. Burton ◽  
Roderick French ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Organizational Cultures ◽  
Organizational Intervention ◽  
Institutional Rules ◽  
Sexual Harassment Training ◽  
Toxic Culture ◽  
Organizational Features ◽  
Organizational Literature

The location where workplace sexual harassment occurs points to the importance of workplace structures and practices for the precipitation of sexual harassment. In fact, some of the current theoretical explanations of sexual harassment focus primarily on organizational features that may facilitate sexual harassment, such as hierarchies and organizational cultures. Organizational literature suggests that in recent decades there has been a trend toward increased use of organizational practices that might empower workers, make organizations more inclusive, and constructively change organizational cultures through interventions. Assumptions about men and women contained in hegemonic gender beliefs can become embedded in organizational structures, authority lines, job classifications, institutional rules, and employee interactions. This paper explores these notions through a case study of an organizational intervention and a content analysis of the literature.

Parallel and Related Trends

2020 ◽  
pp. 24-35
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
The World ◽  
Global North ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Politically Active

Inductive development of the concept of violence against women in politics largely proceeded from an activist and practitioner space focused on the global South. Chapter 3 identifies incidents of political sexism and misogyny in other regions that helped propel recognition of violence against women in politics as a global phenomenon. It summarizes debates involving politically active women in other regions—including the global North—showing that this problem affects women across a range of different countries. One of these was the #MeToo movement that swept around the world in late 2017, which drew attention to sexual harassment within political institutions and highlighted that gender-based violence was not restricted to election-related events. The chapter goes on to show that these episodes have largely been folded into the work done by practitioners in the violence against women in politics field, helping to strengthen its recognition as a universal phenomenon.

Political Institutions and the Policy Process in Ghana: The Case of the Value-Added Tax (VAT).

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Peter Sekyere
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Value Added Tax ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Institutional Actors ◽  
Over Time

This paper seeks to explain differences in policy outcomes even when political institutions remain unchanged over time. It studies the making of Ghana’s most important fiscal policy after its transition to democracy in 1993. This study focuses on the making of the Value Added Tax (VAT) policy at two different time periods. In spite of unchanging political institutions, each episode, in 1995 and 1998, had a different outcome. This paper explores the extent to which the preferences of institutional actors can account for policy changes under the constraints and opportunities created by those same political institutions within the policymaking process. The paper employs George Tsebelis’ veto player theory, which emanates from the rational choice institutionalist school and argues that, when political institutions remain unchanged over time, changes in veto players’ preferences can account for changes in the policy outcome of the VAT. 

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