Democratic Practices and Backsliding in the European Parliament: Feminist Perspectives on the Politics of Political Groups

In this paper, we explore the fundamental questions of democratic practices and democratic backsliding in the European Union from feminist perspectives. Our premise is that gender is the fundamental lens which is required to illuminate the potential challenges to and erosion of democracy, as well as the democratization of political processes. We address these issues in the European Parliament (EP), the most democratic among European institutions, in times in which radical right populist parties have entered this institution, challenging EU democracy and gender equality through a confrontational discourse and bellicose style against gender equality and inclusion. The focus of our analysis is on how EP parliamentary groups construct democracy (discourses) and how they enact democracy (practices), in relation to gender equality. How is democracy constructed in the discourse of EP groups from feminist perspectives? How is democracy enacted in the practice of EP groups? How do EP groups promote democratic backsliding in relation to gender equality? How do EP groups foster democratization from feminist perspectives? What do these dynamics tell us about democracy in the European Parliament? We draw on different sets of data including interviews with MEPs and staff from different political groups in the EP (N=50), as well as EP plenary debates on gender, sexuality and migration, and a selection of crucial debates about democracy in the EU in the legislatures of 2009-2014 and 2014-2019.