Men and Masculinities in Politics

This section aims to expand and synthesize research on political masculinities from different subfields of political science and adjacent fields. Drawing on a comparatively recent but growing body of literature, it aims to facilitate a timely and urgent intervention in research on politics and gender. European politics has historically been dominated by men, and contemporary political institutions were initially designed, built, and accessible almost exclusively for (White) men. While formally gendered barriers to political participation are no longer common, the gendered norms that structure political systems and customs persist. Masculinity is clearly pivotal in maintaining the political gender order, but political scientists have studied this gender inequality mostly from the perspective of women and other minorities. As such, political science has lagged behind other social science disciplines in critically engaging with masculinity. At the same time, anti-democratic and reactionary political masculinities have resurfaced through the success of illiberal far right movements and parties across the globe, forcing other political movements and parties to also engage with questions of political masculinity. This has garnered not just academic but also media attention, with one news outlet even calling the 2024 US presidential election ‘America’s masculinity election’. The rising tide of the far right, anti-gender campaigns, and gender-conservative influencers on social media, not only endangers recent advances in gender and sexuality rights but reverberates also into international politics and political economy. With electorally popular masculine leaders (men and women) who prefer strong authoritarian rhetoric and violence over soft power and diplomacy, the international political order hangs in the balance. Studies across all subfields of political science have now begun critically examining the role of men and masculinities in politics. Inspired by feminist research on masculinity, researchers became interested in how men can be complicit and subversive, and how political masculinities can be performed and mobilized for different goals and by different people, including women. Rather than re-centering men, they offer a way to further scrutinize gendered power differences by applying an intersectional and critical perspective on the historically dominant gender. Because a comprehensive state-of-the-art on political masculinities is lacking, this section offers a novel addition to the field by facilitating topical debates on the status, significance, and dynamics of masculinities across political science. Thematic panels are envisioned on topics emerging from this growing literature. Panel and paper proposals are welcome from all subfields of political science and adjacent fields on topics including, but not limited to, the following themes: • The role of men and masculinities in structuring politics, including political systems, institutions, customs, and norms. • The role of men and masculinities in political decision making, from LGBTQIA+ rights to housing, immigration, and climate change. • The role of men and masculinities in political parties, political communication, (social) media, campaigns, and elections. • The role of men and masculinities in international relations, diplomacy, war and peace(building), and conflict. • The mobilization of men and masculinities in (counter)radicalization, political movements, and grass roots organizing. • Intersectional political masculinities, (re)constructing political masculinity. • Designing interventions.