Abstract: This article introduces a special issue that takes a close look at the outcome of the October 2018 Quebec election where a newly created party (the Coalition Avenir Québec) took power with a majority of seats. The special issue’s five articles collectively examine different factors having played a role in shaping Quebec citizens’ voting behavior in 2018. The extent to which citizens decide to turn out at the district level and their vote choice calculus are both investigated. The latter is analyzed through the lens of long-term factors such as language, attitudes toward Quebec independence, and party identification, as well as more short-term factors such as policy preferences on emerging issues like immigration and the environment. While several contributions point toward an important, perhaps long-lasting, realignment of the Quebec party system, others also highlight some elements of continuity, bringing nuance to an overall explanation of the election’s outcome. PubDate: 2020-05-21
Abstract: Whether it is about Québec independence, French language or immigration, nationalism is a crucial feature of Québec politics. The Québec 2018 election is not an exception. Scholars have developed theories about individual identity, the nation and nationhood, but we lack a citizens’ perspective. We provide the first thorough description of Quebeckers’ nationalism, which reveals a roughly normal (i.e. non-polarized) distribution of ethnic nationalism attitudes. Most importantly, we measure ethnic nationalism with a never tested measure in Québec and we show that it substantially explains vote choice in the Québec 2018 election—especially the support for the Coalition Avenir Québec. Our research builds bridges between debates in political philosophy and political science and deepens our understanding of the Québec 2018 election. PubDate: 2020-04-29
Abstract: This paper tests the explanatory power of exposure to English on nationalist attitudes in the 2018 Quebec general elections, during which all major political parties exceptionally excluded holding a referendum on Quebec independence. Data emanate from an exit poll conducted in Quebec City and in Montreal on October 1, 2018 (N = 122). Results from a population-based survey experiment demonstrate that exposure to written English through a bilingual survey is a positive predictor of support for independence for French-speaking Quebecers who encounter spoken English frequently in their daily lives. This suggests that exposure to written English bolsters nationalist attitudes as real-life out-group contact increases. These results reinforce causal claims on the contextual determinants of political attitudes. PubDate: 2020-04-25
Abstract: From 1970 to 2018, either the Québec Liberal Party or the Parti Québécois won the elections in Québec. The Coalition Avenir Québec ended this long period of bipartisan alternation by winning a majority of seats in the 2018 election. Using datasets that cover five elections (2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2018) over a period of 11 years, we provide a unique longitudinal perspective of citizens’ vote choice calculus. More specifically, we analyse long-term factors that are known to be crucial to make sense of electoral outcomes. Do factors such as generations, sex, attitudes towards Québec sovereignty and party identification have the same weight in voters’ calculus over time' Our results show a relative stability, but also several interesting variations, especially regarding the effect of support for Québec independence. This perspective deepens our understanding of recent political developments in Québec politics. PubDate: 2020-04-23
Abstract: In this article, we explore the impact of electoral participation on electoral dynamics in Quebec. We propose a parsimonious model that considers the linguistic composition of districts and the effective electoral support for parties to explain electoral politics. In modeling these dynamics, we introduce three new concepts, namely leverage effect, push effect, and differentiation effect. Our findings show that the 2018 election represents an extension of dynamics established in 2012 and played a corrective role to those of the 2014 election. They also demonstrate that leverage effects are not effective mechanisms for ensuring electoral success. PubDate: 2020-04-20
Abstract: This article analyses the formulation, adoption, implementation and evaluation of the Elder Care Allowance (APA) since 2001 at the national and departmental levels, with a fine-grained case study of implementation in one department. We show that despite elder care being highly feminized, this policy instrument was gender blind when it was put on the agenda and adopted. When it was implemented at the departmental level, the room for manoeuvre has not been used to reduce gender inequality, and at the national level, a recent movement to gender policy evaluation has not yet produced significant effects with regard to elder care. Thus, rather than transforming gender norms, it has led to a kind of gender accommodation that reflects existing gender relations. PubDate: 2020-03-13
Abstract: The goal of this article is to use the seven case analyses of gender equality policy implementation covered in this special issue to apply and further develop the gender equality policy in practice approach and agenda. Through using the case of France as laboratory to examine if, how and under what conditions gender equality policy implementation leads to success, overall gender transformation and enhanced gender equality, this article provides a more accurate policy recipe for gender equality policy success and the importance of the post-adoption phases of implementation and evaluation in that recipe. PubDate: 2020-03-13
Abstract: This article shows how forced marriage arrived on the French political agenda; how it has been framed as a policy issue; how forced marriage policy is implemented; and what impact, if any, it has had on gender transformation. Data are drawn from policy documents, and fifty-one semi-structured interviews held with state and civil society actors. Fieldwork was conducted in Île-de-France, Montpellier and Strasbourg, selected because of the existence of networks explicitly focused on forced marriage. The article finds that French forced marriage policy is concerned more with protecting or rescuing individual women and girls than with changing gender relations or challenging the structures and power relations that enable violence against women and girls. PubDate: 2020-03-09
Abstract: Since the 2000s, the French State, following the lead of violence against women (VAW) at the international level, has promoted a cross-sectoral approach to VAW policy, which consists of including not only feminist organizations, but also other actors (police, justice, health sector, etc.). In this context, in-service training programs, which aim to spread knowledge about VAW and create a “common culture” between the numerous new actors, have become a central tool of this policy. The comparison between two regions—Île-de-France and Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur—shows that even though feminist organizations remain the main actors in charge of the implementation of the training strategy, some discrete evolutions in the framing of VAW are nonetheless taking place; although training sessions are not gender neutral and use feminist knowledge, their primary aim is to change professional habits without tackling gender inequalities. PubDate: 2020-03-09
Abstract: This article assesses the pre-adoption, adoption, implementation and impact of party parity penalties established in 2002 to promote gender equality in the National Assembly. The analysis argues that while the penalties were implemented and increased over the years and had some success in enhancing women’s numerical representation, from 12.3% of all MPs in 2002 to 38.7% in 2017, rather than being “more than meets the eye,” the parity sanctions were actually far less. The limited scope and authority of the parity penalties and the gender-biased norms of key gatekeepers and political elites in the political parties and the high courts have circumscribed the extent of the progress in women’s numerical representation and the quality of that representation; women MPs in the National Assembly still remain marginalized in a variety of ways in comparison with their male counterparts. Thus, the outcome of the party parity sanctions, in GEPP terms, is “gender accommodation” over “transformation.” PubDate: 2020-03-06
Abstract: Drawing on a collective study of gender and executive careers in the French Civil Service, this article provides an account of the genesis and implementation of the gender quota introduced by the 2012 “Sauvadet law” in senior executive positions of the State bureaucracy. First, it shows the crucial, yet unobtrusive, role played by feminist actors in the process, in spite of the absence of any strong open politicization of the issue, from agenda setting to implementation. Second, the article points to the dual character of the reform. On the one hand, the gradual character and limited perimeter of the quota (to senior executive “initial appointments”) restricted its immediate quantitative impact. On the other hand, the constraining, technical dimension of the tool endowed it with a potential to foster incremental social change. PubDate: 2020-02-28
Abstract: The article traces the story of equal pay policy formation from the early 1980s to the present, from agenda-setting to policy adoption through to implementation, evaluation and outcomes. Until 2010, equal pay policy was implemented through collective bargaining at company and sector levels within a legal framework that failed to establish penalties for non-compliance. Persistent mobilization of feminist actors inside and outside of government contributed to breaking with this symbolic policy. A financial penalty for non-compliant companies was established. The article shows that the strengthening of the existing framework was not sufficient to counter the reluctance of companies to make a solid commitment to closing the gender pay gap, and the outcome appears to be a clear case of “gender accommodation” in GEPP terms. However, recent feminist mobilization around more effective implementation on equal pay suggests that the struggle for more authoritative equal pay policies in the firm is still on the policy agenda. PubDate: 2020-02-26
Abstract: How do political elites persist' Populist movements highlight the continued tension between citizens and political elites. This article reviews some recent research on political selection and inequality. I consider political inequality as the persistent political selection of specific individuals or their relatives over time. Empirical historical research employing statistical analysis of natural experiments can help to understand the connection between specific democratic institutions, such as elections or lotteries, and political selection, political behaviour, or political inequality over time. Some democratic features enable elites to persist, yet there is much variation in political inequality over time and space. Further research could aim to disentangle institutional causes of this variation from determinants of institutional choice. PubDate: 2020-02-24
Abstract: In April 2016, France adopted a new law enshrining a conception of prostitution as a form of violence against women that needed to be ‘abolished’ and setting up a complex policy framework to achieve this end. This framework comprises a criminal justice ‘pillar’ dedicated to prohibiting and punishing the purchase of sexual services, and a social service ‘pillar’ dedicated to providing financial and social support to individuals involved in selling sex—uniformly assumed to be women and systematically considered to be victims. The new policy was supposed to break from 70 years of symbolic politics characterised by ambiguous regulation, low political attention, and lax policy implementation. Drawing on documentary and interview data, and using the Gender Equality Policy in Practice framework to determine the policy’s current and potential impact on women’s rights and gender equality, this article argues that implementation of France’s new anti-prostitution policy is currently at a critical juncture. Budget reductions, a lack of central state steering, and competing policy priorities are contributing to hollowing out the policy of its capacity to support individuals wishing to exit prostitution while possibly deteriorating the working conditions of those who cannot or do not wish to exit. PubDate: 2020-02-24
Abstract: That the symbolic is an identifiable dimension of contemporary politics is unlikely to be a controversial statement. Yet, political scientists have been wary of drawing attention to the category, if not in denial about its importance for their field of study. The article starts with an overview of the public policy literature and shows how the symbolic dimension is often treated as less “real” and as “mere communication”. Despite the growing attention to feedback, narratives and qualitative approaches to the evaluation of policies, the symbolic remains a terrain treaded with care. In the second section, we propose a definition of the symbolic that highlights some of the key aspects that are relevant to political analysis and for the analysis of their role in public policy. In the third section, we advocate taking into account how public policies incorporate and use the symbolic and propose several avenues of research. PubDate: 2020-02-20
Abstract: What processes account for the deadlock in a given policy' While causes and mechanisms of policy change have been extensively researched, this paper sheds light on how formal institutional change can lead to policy deadlock. This paper examines two cases that demonstrate the absence of progress on integration policy during Sarkozy’s time in office (as a Minister of the Interior and as a president). Drawing on elite interviews, the paper points out how institutional change can lead to departmental competition within new or combined structures, leading to policy deadlock, as new layered actors do not always have the capacity to push old ones out, resulting in further institutional change. PubDate: 2020-01-27
Abstract: A widespread assumption is that national political parties use candidate selection for European elections to promote unexperienced politicians or to offer a luxury retirement home to senior national figureheads. Yet, if much criticism is addressed to the outcomes of the parties’ selection procedures, the actual processes that lead to such outcomes are under remarkably little scrutiny. This article traces the candidate recruitment process that took place in the French party Europe Ecology—The Greens ahead of the 2014 European elections. It investigates how the greens have juggled between their participatory ideals and short-term campaign imperatives. Results show that different combinations of logics have prevailed at different times in the process of nomination. Although the party elite carefully designed a process to maximise its goals, developments ultimately escaped its control. PubDate: 2019-12-30
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