Suchergebnisse

Women are increasingly present and active in public policy-making with females leaders no longer a rarity in major Western countries. However, the achievements of a few outstanding individuals can obscure the continuing limits to the role that women in general play in political life. Focusing primarily on a range of economically advanced liberal democracies, Anne Stevens looks at women's political behavior as citizens, voters, representatives, activists and leaders, and asks what impact they have on political outcomes. Supporting her argument with substantial evidence from a range of countries, [the author] concludes that the changes that have enhanced women's political status have never been easy. Women do not necessarily agree about the outcomes to be achieved and what they can do is profoundly affected by the context within which they act. -- Book cover

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Tables, Figures, Exhibits and Maps -- Preface -- List of Abbreviations -- 1 France: An Introduction -- Geographical Diversity -- The Impact of the French Revolution -- Church and State -- The Legacy of Napoleon -- The Evolution of the Republic -- The Rise of Socialism -- Occupation, Resistance, Liberation -- Division and Instability -- Reconstruction and Modernization -- State, Society and Economy under the Fifth Republic -- Social Changes -- 2 The Constitutional Framework -- The Constitutions of the Third and Fourth Republics -- The Demand for a New Constitution in 1958 -- The Objectives of the Authors of the Constitution -- The Letter of the Constitution -- Amending the Constitution -- The Constitutional Balance: What Type of Regime? -- The Development of the Regime -- The Constitutional Council -- 3 President and Prime Minister: Executive Leadership -- The Nature of the Fifth Republican Presidency -- The Head of Government: The Prime Minister -- The Prime Minister and the President -- The Formal Resources of the Presidency -- The Position of the Prime Minister -- Conclusion -- 4 President and Prime Minister: Political Roles and Evolving Relationships -- Presidential Practice -- The Political Role of the Prime Minister -- Cohabitation -- Limitations and Constraints -- Conclusion -- 5 The Governmental Machine: Ministers and Civil Servants -- The Machinery of Government -- The Characteristics of Ministers -- The Pathology of the Ministerial Role: Corruption and Scandal -- The Coordination of the Work of the Government -- The French Administrative Tradition -- Control of the Administration -- The Nature of Policy-Making: Image and Reality -- Conclusion -- 6 Local Government -- The Units of Local Government.

Issues of representation have become increasingly salient in European countries with attempts to find mechanisms to increase the representation of women, including various types of quota and parity legislation. This article examines the extension of the idea to bureaucracies. It looks at two arguments about this extension: should bureaucracies be regarded as places where representation can and should occur, and, even if representation in bureaucracies is regarded as possible, is it desirable. Having concluded that it is both possible and desirable, the article then examines the outworking of the notion of representation within one bureaucracy, the European Commission, on the basis of the considerations applied by feminists to elected representation. The example of the EC illuminates aspects of representative bureaucracy, and supports a normative argument for representation on the basis of symbolic, justice and deliberative arguments even if the agency argument must be nuanced by the need to avoid partiality.