Standardizing the World: EU Trade Policy and the Road to Convergence

Posted on by

Duina, Francesco and Crina Viju-Miljusevic. 2023. Standardizing the World: EU Trade Policy and the Road to Convergence. Oxford University Press.

The EU has pursued many trade pacts across the world. This is part of its foreign policy: as the third largest economy in the world and lacking hard power, the EU relies on trade agreements to project its interests. These are often complex and far-reaching initiatives that have the potential to shape not only economic but also political and social life in the EU and its trading partners.

Pages: 1 2 3

Revolutions in Cuba and Venezuela: One Hope, Two Realities

Posted on by

Pedraza, Silvia and Carlos A. Romero. 2023. Revolutions in Cuba and Venezuela: One Hope, Two Realities. University of Florida Press.

revolutions in cuba and venezuela

Revolutions in Cuba and Venezuela compares the sociopolitical processes behind two major revolutions-those of Cuba in 1959, when Fidel Castro came to power, and Venezuela in 1999, when Hugo Chávez won the presidential election. With special attention to the Cuba-Venezuela alliance, particularly in regards to foreign policy and the trade of doctors for oil, Silvia Pedraza and Carlos Romero show that the geopolitical theater where these events played out determined the dynamics and reach of the revolutions.
 
Updating and enriching the current understanding of the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutions, this study is unique in its focus on the massive exoduses they generated. Pedraza and Romero argue that this factor is crucial for comprehending a revolution’s capacity to succeed or fail. By externalizing dissent, refugees helped to consolidate the revolutions, but as the diasporas became significant political actors and the lifelines of each economy, they eventually served to undermine the social movements.
 
Using comparative historical analysis and data collected through fieldwork in Cuba and Venezuela, as well as from immigrant communities in the US, Pedraza and Romero discuss issues of politics, economics, migrations, authoritarianism, human rights, and democracy in two nations that hoped to make a better world through their revolutionary journeys.

Pages: 1 2

Feminism Contested and Co-opted: Women, Agency and Politics of Gender in the Greek and Greek-Cypriot Far Right

Posted on by

Kamenou, Nayia. 2023. “Feminism Contested and Co-opted: Women, Agency and Politics of Gender in the Greek and Greek-Cypriot Far Right.” European Journal of Women’s Studies. Online First. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13505068221145412 

The literature on the gender dimension of far-right politics has established the constitutive role of gender and women’s involvement in the far right. However, knowledge about how far-right women negotiate and condition their agency within their parties and how they relate to gender, gender equality and feminism remains limited. This article builds on literature on conservative and far-right women’s agency, and on feminism’s employment by the far right. Based on interviews with female politicians and seasoned activists of the Greek Golden Dawn and the Greek-Cypriot National Popular Front, it examines how highly engaged far-right women construct their political agency at the intersections of often contradictory discourses and how, in doing so, they impact understandings of gender, gender equality and feminism. The analysis of the interview material identifies three different formulations of political agency the participants refer to: radical motherhood; female political militancy/political militant femininity and troubling of far-right gender roles. I argue that these different formulations of political agency show how, by using elements of feminism, far-right women construct flexible and versatile far-right gender discourses, which challenge gender essentialist positions that their parties convey. Moreover, they challenge delineations of far-right women’s political agency based on the compliance/(feminist) resistance dichotomy and expose the processes through which far-right women contest feminism by drawing on it. The article further argues that these formulations of political agency and far-right gender discourses may contribute to the far right’s appeal among women with diverse views on gender, gender equality, feminism and politics, as they may respond to an array of interests and demands that can be made from many different positions. Therefore, beyond contributing to discussions about the role of women, gender and feminism in far-right politics, the article demonstrates the importance of studying far-right women’s views for gaining a well-rounded understanding of this issue.

The American Population Panel

Posted on by

Are you a student, post-doc or faculty member wishing to undertake your own survey research? 

CHRR at The Ohio State University started building the American Population Panel (APP) in June 2017 to provide researchers interested in fielding their own surveys with a pool of respondents.  The APP is not a probability sample but it now comprises over 50,000 members who have expressed interest in taking occasional surveys for research purposes and who have been recruited via a wide array of traditional and modern techniques. With background information on sex assigned at birth, age, educational attainment, geographical residence, race and ethnicity, we can create samples that are nationally representative of these demographic and background characteristics. We can also obtain samples of special populations that may be hard to find in other panels, for example LGBTQ+ individuals or veterans. CHRR has been involved in many survey projects over the past 55+ years, most notably the National Longitudinal Surveys, and the APP can be used for longitudinal as well as cross-sectional studies.

Pages: 1 2 3

Call for Chapters: Colleges and Their Communities

Posted on by

Chapter Proposals Due April 10, 2023

Chapter Drafts Due October 15, 2023

Anticipated Publication Date:  2025-2026

This edited volume will explore myriad ways in which colleges/universities have worked with and against their communities, covering such issues as neighborhood gentrification, town-gown conflicts, innovation alliances, local food programs, and the existence (or lack of) access pipelines for local students.  Contributions are not restricted to the US and we encourage chapters that explore international contexts.  See the attached call for more information. 

Chapter proposal/abstract submission

Please submit an abstract no longer than 500 words with a potential title and topic area to Allison Hurst, hursta@oregonstate.edu, by April 10, 2023.  Notification of accepted chapter proposals will be made by April 15, 2023, with completed chapter draft to be submitted no later than October 15, 2023.  Final contributions will be limited to 6000 words maximum (or roughly twenty double-spaced manuscript pages).

Pages: 1 2