77 research outputs found
Women's reproductive rights in the inter-American system of human rights: conclusions from the Field, June - September 2014
The Inter-American System of Human Rights has proven to be a forum for the advancement of womenâs reproductive rights in the Inter-American region. However, the Inter-American System faces significant challenges in promoting structural transformative change that enables womenâs enjoyment of their reproductive health rights. This report examines three reproductive rights cases from the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: MarĂa Mamerita Mestanza ChĂĄvez v. Peru; Paulina Ramirez Jacinto v. Mexico; and Artavia Murillo et al. v. Costa Rica. In the summer of 2014, interviews were conducted with representatives in each of the case study countries, with the objective of the research being two-fold: (1) to understand how each of the cases developed, and the subsequent challenges and advancements; and (2) to learn from these cases in order to suggest recommendations for how actors can make better use of the Inter-American System as one of several avenues for protecting, promoting and fulfilling womenâs reproductive rights. The report first discusses challenges in implementing womenâs reproductive health rights, and then explores how the Inter-American System can strengthen its work on womenâs reproductive health rights
When the Victor Cannot Claim the Spoils: Institutional Incentives for Professionalizing Patronage States
Protestant women in the late Soviet era: gender, authority, and dissent
At the peak of the anti-religious campaigns under Nikita Khrushchev,
communist propaganda depicted women believers as either naĂŻve
dupes, tricked by the clergy, or as depraved fanatics; the Protestant
âsektantkaâ (female sectarian) was a particularly prominent folk-devil.
In fact, as this article shows, womenâs position within Protestant
communities was far more complex than either of these mythical
figures would have one believe. The authors explore four important,
but contested, female roles: women as leaders of worship, particularly
in remote congregations where female believers vastly outnumbered
their male counterparts; women as unofficial prophetesses,
primarily within Pentecostal groups; women as mothers, replenishing
congregations through high birth rates and commitment to their
childrenâs religious upbringing; and women as political actors in the
defence of religious rights. Using a wide range of sources, which
include reports written by state officials, articles in the church journal,
letters from church members to their ecclesiastical leaders in
Moscow, samizdat texts, and oral history accounts, the authors
probe womenâs relationship with authority, in terms of both the
authority of the (male) ministry within the church, and the authority
of the Soviet state
Civil society leadership in the struggle for AIDS treatment in South Africa and Uganda
Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis is an attempt to theorise and operationalise empirically the notion of âcivil society leadershipâ in Sub-Saharan Africa. âAIDS leadership,â which is associated with the intergovernmental institutions charged with coordinating the global response to HIV/AIDS, is both under-theorised and highly context-specific. In this study I therefore opt for an inclusive framework that draws on a range of approaches, including the literature on âleadershipâ, institutions, social movements and the ânetworkâ perspective on civil society mobilisation. This framework is employed in rich and detailed empirical descriptions (âthick descriptionâ) of civil society mobilisation around AIDS, including contentious AIDS activism, in the key case studies of South Africa and Uganda. South Africa and Uganda are widely considered key examples of poor and good leadership (from national political leaders) respectively, while the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) are both seen as highly effective civil society movements. These descriptions emphasise âtransnational networks of influenceâ in which civil society leaders participated (and at times actively constructed) in order to mobilise both symbolic and material resources aimed at exerting influence at the transnational, national and local levels
Explaining informal policy-making patterns in the Eurozone crisis: decentralized bargaining and the theory of EU institutions
During the Eurozone crisis, the so-called âMerkozy duumvirateâ emerged as an informal, but highly visible EU policy-making pattern. This article asks why such forms of decentralized bargaining emerge and what this implies for the theory of EU institutions. According to an approach based on negotiation theory, the article argues that Merkozy is a strategic tool used by Germany to realize its preferences on EU crisis management. Based on an incomplete contracts theory of EU institutions, instead, the article analyses Merkozy as an informal institution created by France and Germany to avoid being discriminated by supranational institutions. Both approaches are employed to assess Merkozyâs role in the decision-making process leading to the adoption of the Fiscal Compact
Citizen-Centered Governance: The Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and the Evolution of CRM in Boston
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