Decentralization, Political Parties, and Women's Representation: Evidence from Spain and Britain

Meryl Kenny and Tània Verge

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2013, vol. 43, issue 1, 109-128

Abstract: This article explores the hitherto underresearched relationship between state architecture and women's political representation, specifically their descriptive or numerical presence. Using a qualitative comparative case study of gender quota reforms in Spain and Britain, we ask how party organizational dynamics mediate the relationship between formal institutions and representative outcomes in recently decentralized countries. We find that the impact of political decentralization on quota adoption and implementation is contingent upon a number of variables related to the party organization, particularly the internal distribution of authority between the central and the regional branches. We conclude that political parties need to be considered as complex and independent actors in analyses of the relationship between state architecture and women's politics. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjs023 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:publus:v:43:y:2013:i:1:p:109-128

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Publius: The Journal of Federalism is currently edited by Paul Nolette and Philip Rocco

More articles in Publius: The Journal of Federalism from CSF Associates Inc. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().