Abstract
This chapter addresses gender equality and ethno-national diversity in democratic politics focusing on issues of EU citizenship as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the European Public Sphere. We propose that the intersectionality approach can contribute to understand the contestations by political actors about (gender) equality, ethno-national diversity and religion. These contestations can be interpreted as a sign of a vibrant public sphere with potentials to evolve into solidarity movements, as well as a dangerous sign of the growth of right-wing anti-migration forces. The migration and refugee crisis has challenged democracy, equal rights and social justice, but, at the same time, the transnational arena is potentially the only feasible alternative to solve the migration and refugee crisis and to develop timely concepts of democracy.
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Notes
- 1.
Fraser’s previous social justice model was premised on three universal principles linking social equality, cultural diversity and participatory democracy within the nation state (Nancy Fraser , “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy” (1990) 25/26 Social Text, pp. 56–80, at 77). It criticised the exclusive nature of Habermas’ model and the universal ideal of the public sphere , premised on the public/private divide and proposed a public sphere model premised on heterogeneity and diversity, which expand democracy and decentred politics from parliament to civil society.
- 2.
The overall focus of the Eurosphere project was to examine how four sets of social and political actors (political parties, social movements/NGOs, think tanks and media) envision European diversity and the EU polity and how they participate in public debates. Data were derived from semi-structured elite interviews, institutional datasets (web-based and printed documents and materials), surveys and media content analyses. Close to 200 organisations were included in the analysis and approximately 1300 élite interviews were conducted. The interviews covered (1) views on diversity in general; (2) views on ethno-national diversity; (3) perceptions of the EU and its development; (4) preferred political strategies within the policy fields of citizenship, migration and enlargement; and (5) perceptions of European public spheres.
- 3.
This conceptualisation of intersectionality in the Eurosphere gender project is thus somewhat different from Crenshaw’s understanding of intersectionality, mainly limited to experiences of racism and sexism, on two key points: First, ethno-national diversity is broader than race , since it can refer both to national minorities and to immigrant and refugee groups. Secondly and more importantly, it does not only refer to the agendas of marginal groups but also to agendas of mainstream political actors.
- 4.
The analysis of selected political parties and social movement organisations (SMOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) included comparisons of political parties in Denmark and Hungary; of right -wing populist parties in Austria, Denmark and Norway; of six national women’s organisations; of transnational activism organised in the European Women’s Lobby (EWL ) and the European Network Against Racism (ENAR); as well as a case study of women in the European Parliament, The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) (Siim and Mokre 2013).
- 5.
A refined analysis of discourses in selected political parties and civil society organisations shows that in addition to exclusionary and inclusionary intersectionality, there are statements, which cannot be clearly assigned to one or the other form of this intersectionality (ambiguous intersectionality), and also a few statements with an explicit rejection of intersections between gender and ethnicity /nation (no relation) (Brüll et al. 2012).
- 6.
The selected women’s organisations were from five European countries: the French organisation, Ni Putes Ni Soumises, NPNS; the Danish Women’s Council; The Bulgarian Women’s Alliance for Development, WAD; the two Turkish organisations, KA-DAR, the organisation to support women candidates in political parties, and Kamer, the Women’s Centre; and the Hungarian women’s organisation, NaNe (see Arribas Lozano et al. 2013).
- 7.
The questions are inspired by Carol Bacchi’s formulation “what is the problem represented to be” (WPR) (Carol Bacchi, Analysing Policy: What’s the Problem Represented to Be? (Frenchs Forest NSW: Pearson Education, 2009).
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Mokre, M., Siim, B. (2018). Negotiating Equality and Diversity: Transnational Challenges to European Citizenship. In: Fossum, J., Kastoryano, R., Siim, B. (eds) Diversity and Contestations over Nationalism in Europe and Canada. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58987-3_7
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