Keeping women out of politics?
Keeping women out of politics?: The (in)direct impact of violence against women in politics
PhD Research
A growing body of literature shows that violence against women in politics (VAWIP) is a widespread problem. Since female politicians are not only targeted based on their political role, but because of their gender as well, scholars argue to study VAWIP as a distinctive issue. Most research looking into the problem, focusses on countries in conflict settings with low levels of female politicians. In these environments, research has shown how VAWIP markedly contributes to keeping women out of politics. However, in stable democracies with high levels of women’s representation in politics, VAWIP is also present.
Aside from the impact on female politicians’ mental health, little is known about the broader effects of VAWIP in these settings. Therefore, based on a case study of Belgium, this research project will map the scale and (in)direct impact of VAWIP. The research questions are threefold: 1) How does VAWIP manifest itself in a non-conflict setting with high levels of women’s representation in politics? (scale) 2) How does VAWIP affect the political careers of female politicians? (direct impact) 3) How does VAWIP shape the political ambition of young citizens? (indirect impact). To answer the research questions, the project adopts a multi method research design which combines survey, interview and focus group data. The project will make a strong contribution to empirical and theoretical understandings of (the impact of) VAWIP and has high societal and political relevance.
PhD-researcher
Promotors
Prof. Dr. Karen Celis
They are not like us.
They are not like us. The perception of differentness, polarization amongst citizens and dissatisfaction with representatives
The project examines an hitherto under-examined driver of two of the main problems representative democracies are wrestling with: horizontal affective polarization among citizens and vertical political dissatisfaction with politicians. The ‘new’ driver is the perception that other-minded citizens and other-minded politicians are not only politically different—they have other political preferences—but that they also are different human beings with different social, cultural and economic features. Ingroup-outgroup mechanisms make that such broad perceptions of differences lead to deepening intergroup animus. Although the theoretical logic of perceptual differences deepening dislike of others is not new, it has never been applied empirically to the study of horizontal polarization and vertical dissatisfaction. In NOTLIKEUS, Karen Celis, Jonas Lefevere and Eline Severs engage in a broad and encompassing research program that (1) describes and conceptualizes citizens’ perception of differentness of other-minded citizens/politicians, (2) examines its causes, (3) analyses its effect on polarization and dissatisfaction, (4) investigates its ultimate effect on anti-democratic behaviour, and (5) explores possible solutions to the negative fall-out of high levels of perception of differentness. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methods, the project examines the Belgian case, a case that is suitable both theoretically and empirically.
PLEDGE : Politics of Grievance and Democratic Governance
Contemporary politics is angry and vengeful, with affective polarization and uncompromising antagonisms posing a significant challenge for European democracies and their governance. PLEDGE interprets political grievances as emotional signals of disaffection, frustration and insecurities that can develop into either anti- or prodemocratic outcomes.
By engaging in collaborative research design and implementation involving academics, policy-makers, civil society actors, and citizens, the PLEDGE project intends to offer new understanding of anti- and pro-democratic trajectories of political grievances, and to co-create tools and practices of emotionally intelligent and responsive democratic governance and policy communication that promote prodemocratic forms of civic engagement.
Promotor
Timeframe
1/02/2024 - 31/01/2027
The Quality Of Women's Political Representation
Achieving women’s equal political participation and representation is recognised as a priority by the international community, yet there is increasing recognition that representative democracy has failed to deliver political equality for all women. Numerically under-represented in the world’s democracies, women, especially minoritised and marginalised women, experience something far short of ‘good’ representation. These are moreover ‘troubled times’: with potentially devastating natural and human-made crises (climate change, global pandemics, and economic inequality). The rise of populism not only contests representative democracy’s ability to respond but frequently deploys anti-feminist claims that threaten women’s rights and undermine gender equality. Evidence showing how and when women in their diversity are well represented is needed to sustain the necessary will on behalf of domestic and global actors to counter anti-democratic and anti-gender equality ideas and practices; to enable political and civil society actors to build genuine relationships between women and democratic politics, whereby women’s political equality is fully realised. QUALREP, led by Prof. Dr. Karen Celis, addresses this need by conducting a theoretically rich, comparative empirical analysis of the quality of women’s representation, attentive to intersectional and ideological diversity and with particular concern for the most marginalised women, across five European nations: Belgium; Poland; Portugal, Sweden, and the UK. It brings together a diverse, sometimes conflictual, theoretical, and empirical research field, where progress has slowed and risks stagnation, into a new conceptual framework and methodology; applicable in the future to global research across diverse democracies with the aim of establishing the features of, and conditions for, high quality women’s political representation, providing an essential evidence base for advocacy and policy making that advances gender equality in politics and beyond.