Democracy, Feminism and Democratic Backsliding: Global Perspectives

This paper explores the relationship between feminist mobilization and democracy using new global datasets, and sketches how waves of feminist mobilization relate to global spread of democracy and democratic backsliding, in the context of world-historical trends towards decolonization, global socialism, and the emergence of modern gender regimes (both egalitarian and neoliberal ones). We examine global, historical patterns from about 1900 to 2015, focussing on the period after 1975 when successive waves of global feminism spread and intensified worldwide and in the first quarter of the 21rst century when democratic backsliding intensified. Our analysis shows that feminist mobilization and democracy strengthen each other: When strong, autonomous feminist movements thrive, authoritarianism appears less likely. Conversely, democracy enables, but does not determine, the emergence of feminist movements. Strong, autonomous feminist movements contribute to robust civil society, improved representation and greater equality, and act as a brake on democratic roll-backs (though not a permanent stopper). When feminism is wholly contained in the state, these democratic impacts tend to be muted: gender quota and top-down state feminism on their own are weak protection against illiberal and autocratic reversions. World-historical trends and forces set the stage for these developments: The trends towards decolonization which began in the mid to late 1960s resulted in greater democratization and enabled feminist flourishing. Waves of global feminism inspired feminist mobilization and created pressure for particular policy agendas that emphasized gender equality, as exemplified, for example in the UN World Conferences on Women in Nairobi and Beijing. Global socialism (which was often accompanied by measures that repressed civil society, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe) had more mixed effects, both inspiring and quashing women’s efforts to organize independently. Transnational religious institutions, such as the Catholic Church, led a populist backlash against gender theory and seized on opportunities presented by transitions away from communist authoritarianism in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, forming an important part of a global, anti-feminist force. This force, importantly, was also strengthened by a more open civil society. Ironically, then, the robust civil society that enables feminist mobilization also provides fertile ground for right-wing and traditionalist movements. Transnational organizations can make a difference in terms of which constellation of domestic organizations prevails. The paper elaborates a theory of the central role of civil society - especially feminist and traditionalist organizations- in the development of social democratic gender regimes and democratization. The theory is elaborated through a comparison of several states in West and Eastern Europe. Analyzing global patterns of women’s civil society participation and feminist movements- the former over the past century (using data from the Varieties of Democracy project), and the latter over the period of 1975 to 2015, using a new measure of feminist mobilization, the Feminist Mobilization Index (FMI) -the analysis provides some support for the theoretical arguments advanced here, though it also suggests new questions.