Women’s Movements in Portugal and Spain: Democratic Processes and Policy Outcomes

Portugal and Spain underwent dramatic transformations between 1974 and the early 1980s, transitioning from dictatorships to democracies. In this article I explore why Portugal was faster than Spain in adopting key gender-rights policies (e.g., divorce, equal pay, state feminism) during the period in question. Bridging insights from the democratization, social movement, and women’s studies literatures, I argue that Portugal’s accelerated policy path on women’s rights can be explained by three complex factors: (1) the nature of the revolutionary transition, which structured options for women’s movements and for institutional actors; (2) the configuration of movement-party alliances; and (3) supranational pressures to reorganize the state-civil society relationship. The study contributes to the engendering of democratization processes in Iberia by paying close attention to the interconnected agency of women’s movements with other political actors at a time of regime transformation.     

Evaluation from a Gender+ Perspective as a Key Element for (Re)gendering the Policymaking Process

ABSTRACT

Feminist scholars have challenged the neutrality of policymaking processes and the outputs resulting from these processes. However, some elements of policymaking have not been studied as well as others. In this article I explore the concept of evaluation from a gender+ perspective as an essential step for a complete gender mainstreaming strategy, which can help to identify gender issues that should be integrated into the content of evaluated policies and to ensure gender does not get lost in the policymaking process. This exploration is carried out by relying on feminist policy and evaluation studies.     

Preschool Policymaking by Stealth: Application of an Alternative Framework for the Policy Process

This study uses the design and passage of universal preschool in two states, Oklahoma and West Virginia, to present an alternative framework for understanding the policy process, Policymaking by Stealth, and demonstrate its usefulness both in expanding the understanding of the politics of public preschool and as a tool for social work policy practice. An overview of the current state of preschool policy in the United States and the political history of federal preschool policy is presented first to provide context to the analysis, followed by an introduction to the analytic framework, and then a formal analysis of the policy passage processes in the two states via the lens of Policymaking by Stealth. The contributions of this new framework to the study of the policy process in general and the practice of policymaking in complex political contexts are discussed.     

Linguistic instrumentalism and national language policy in Mainland China’s state print media coverage of the Protecting Cantonese Movement

This article examines the Chinese government’s use of the print media to justify the national language policy and address individuals’ concerns about the vitality of regional varieties of the Chinese language (i.e., Cantonese) in its coverage of the Protecting Cantonese Movement (July 2010) in Guangzhou. The analysis revealed that the Chinese government adopted a relatively reconciliatory response to the Movement, which apparently contested the relevant language policy. However, the media texts maintained the national policy of promoting Putonghua as inviolable, whereas they assigned Cantonese the role of the carrier of cultural tradition and stressed that the rise or fall of particular regional language depended on regional socioeconomic developments. Such media discussions showed that the state carefully managed relevant discussions about the vitality of regional Chinese varieties within the discursive space defined by legalistic, cultural, and socioeconomic development discourses. These discursive boundaries reflect the dominance of linguistic instrumentalism in the Chinese government’s language policymaking.     

The state and the development of an information society: Greek policy and experience

The paper looks into the dynamics of information society policy and its implementation in the Greek context. It argues that information society development is a contested process, influenced by pre‐existing state, economy and society relations. Based on this, it looks into the different aspects of the idiosyncratic path which the evolution of the Greek information society has followed, particularly after 2000. Using Bob Jessop's strategic‐relational approach (SRA) to the state as an analytical framework and drawing on a number of in‐depth interviews with relevant political actors, it provides insights into policy implementation by examining: the public management of information technology projects, how such projects were received in bureaucratic structures and practices, as well as the relationship between the state and the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in public procurement processes. The emphasis is on the period 2000–2008, during which a major operational programme on the information society in Greece was put into effect. The paper also touches upon the post‐2008 experience, suggesting that information society developments might include dynamics operating independently and even in contradiction to the state agenda.     

Asymmetric learning in a short-term,macro-oriented international students’ exchange: an exploratory study

International social work organizations’ call for a Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development emphasizes promotion of social justice-oriented policies. A major challenge for international student exchange programs, especially when the visitors are from affluent countries, is to overcome the asymmetric process of the relative lack of power, in student hosts’ in comparison to student visitors’ relationships, as well as to focus on macro-practice orientation. Through analyzing a case study of student exchange, we propose a set of pedagogical strategies that may help to overcome these challenges through using processes of mirroring to address this asymmetric situation. This exploratory research is based on a three-year assessment of a short-term, macro-oriented MSW travel study course between graduate students from two universities (in the US and in Israel) using an exchange framework. It includes a comparison of joint experiences of students using both written and arts-based data. The findings demonstrate that the use of relationship building and mirroring enables both hosts and guests to learn about their own macro-reality through the eyes of the others and helps diffuse asymmetry and create relationships not only on the micro-, but also macro-levels. Implications for teaching methods in international courses are discussed.     

Sexual Orientation in State Hate Crime Laws: Exploring Social Construction and Criminal Law

Several studies have described and analyzed the development and diffusion of hate crime laws in the United States, but none specifically examined state-level differences in protected categories. Forty-five of the 50 states have a hate crime statute, but only 30 of those include sexual orientation. In this study the social construction framework is applied to the hate crime policy domain in order to determine whether or not variations in the social and political status of gays and lesbians are associated with the inclusion of sexual orientation in state hate crime laws. Content analysis of daily newspapers in six states revealed that a positive social construction is associated with groups seeking hate crime law protections, and that political influence may also be a key factor.     

Investigating the differential mobility experiences of Chinese cross-border students

Recent migration studies have adopted the lens of mobility to examine the stratifying effects of border policies, but few investigate the differential mobility of migrant families and children. This paper aims to contribute to the migration literature by considering the interplay between border policies, family configurations, and differential mobility. We apply the lens of differential mobility to the experiences of Chinese cross-border pupils – young child migrants with Hong Kong permanent residency who reside in Shenzhen, China, and cross the border to attend school. We begin by describing shifts in Hong Kong’s border and immigration policies since 1997, which have created a typology of families differentiated by mixed status, citizenship rights, and mobility. We then turn to four case studies of students with unequal border-crossing experiences to elucidate how border control constrains or promotes family mobility and perpetuates inequalities.     

京津冀经济协同发展背景下河北省承接京津产业转移推进策略研究

京津冀协同发展作为国家战略已成为河北省面临的重大发展机遇。在此过程中承接首都产业的转移已成为急迫的现实需要,但如何在实践中顺利推进已成为亟待解决的问题。文章在相关理论研究成果的基础上,着重分析了河北省在承接京津产业转移方面存在的主要问题,进而从河北省角度提出了在京津冀协同发展背景下进一步推进产业承接的对策建议,从而为相关管理部门的宏观决策提供有益的参考与借鉴。     

我国生育意愿及其影响因素研究综述：1980～2015

2016年1月1日起实施的全面二孩政策能否有效地鼓励民众的生育行为,这关乎到我国未来几十年合理调整人口结构、稳固新常态发展的成功与否。本文通过对我国1980-2015年有关生育意愿的国内外文献总结回顾,将生育意愿的内涵界定为数量、时间、性别、动机四个维度,并在此基础上结合国内外学者们的研究归纳得出影响生育意愿的五个方面因素：政策、经济、观念、教育、年龄,以期在新政策背景下展望未来,借鉴国外发展的经验,做好养老、医疗、就业、教育方面的准备措施来迎接全面二孩时代,并为有关生育意愿的进一步研究提供参考。