Recently, scholars have propagated a ‘claim-based’ approach towards the study of women’s substantive representation. In this article, we challenge the relativism of such a ‘claim-based’ approach and explore the relevance of the concept of ‘responsiveness’ as a democratic criterion. We do so, more specifically, through a study of Muslim women’s substantive representation in the Flemish headscarf debate. We identify claims to speak for Muslim women formulated by (1) political parties and (2) Muslim women and (minority) women’s associations and examine the congruence between their respective claims. The important incongruence found between the claims formulated by right-wing and liberal parties and those of Muslim women/women’s associations provides empirical backing to the acclaimed relevance of a relational evaluation of women’s substantive representation. We conclude that the criterion of responsiveness is invaluable because it allows us to evaluate if actors’ claims to speak for women account for women’s capacity to speak for themselves. |
Res Publica
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Article |
De substantiële vertegenwoordiging van moslimvrouwenVertegenwoordigende claims en responsiviteit in het Vlaamse hoofddoekendebat |
Trefwoorden | political representation, representative claims, responsiveness, women’s substantive representation, the headscarf debate, women’s interests |
Auteurs | Eline Severs, Karen Celis en Petra Meier |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Article |
Een bijzonder meerderheidskabinet?Parlementair gedrag tijdens het kabinet Rutte-I |
Trefwoorden | minority cabinet, majority cabinet, parliamentary behaviour, the Netherlands |
Auteurs | Simon Otjes en Tom Louwerse |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
This article studies how the presence of the supported minority government Rutte-I affected patterns of legislative behaviour. Based on the literature on minority cabinets one would expect that during supported minority cabinets parliamentary parties cooperate more often across the division between coalition and opposition than under multiparty majority cabinet rule. Examining almost 30,000 parliamentary votes between 1994 and 2012, this study finds that on a host of indicators of coalition-opposition-cooperation, there was less cooperation ‘across the aisle’ during the Rutte-I cabinet than during any cabinet before it. We explain this with reference to the comprehensive nature of the support agreement as well as the impact of the cabinets’ ideological composition. |
Article |
De wetgevende macht van de media?Een kwantitatieve analyse van media-effecten op de behandeling van wetsvoorstellen |
Trefwoorden | media effects, legislation, policy process, lawmaking, Dutch politics, newspaper coverage |
Auteurs | Lotte Melenhorst |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The media are a much-discussed subject in both the scientific and the public debate on the functioning of democracy. Nevertheless, there is relatively little empirical research on the effects of media on the most fundamental aspect of politics: the legislative process. However, this type of research is important because it helps us gain insight into the influence journalists exert. This study analyses the influence of media attention for bills on the legislative process in the Netherlands. A quantitative analysis of the newspaper coverage for recently discussed bills indicates that the parliamentary process is influenced by this coverage. This first study of media-effects on the Dutch legislative process suggests that more media-attention leads to the introduction of more amendments by both members of government and members of parliament. |
Essay |
De heterogene samenleving en haar politieke gevolgen |
Auteurs | Wimar Bolhuis |
Auteursinformatie |
Research Note |
Leiden meer beheersautonomie en resultaatsturing tot een meer innovatieve cultuur bij publieke organisaties? |
Auteurs | Jan Wynen, Koen Verhoest, Eduardo Ongaro e.a. |
Auteursinformatie |
Symposium |
Tien jaar na de bamahervorming: wat is de impact op de kwaliteit van het universitaire onderwijs? |
Auteurs | Dirk Van Damme, Paul Nieuwenburg en Don Westerheijden |
Auteursinformatie |
Research Note |
Competitie en samenwerking bij ideologische bewegingenTurkse organisaties in Amsterdam en Berlijn, 1965-2000 |
Auteurs | Floris Vermeulen |
Auteursinformatie |
Research Note |
De ‘veiligheid-ontwikkeling nexus’ en de securitisering van het EU-beleid ten aanzien van ontwikkelingslanden |
Auteurs | Stephan Keukeleire en Kolja Raube |
Auteursinformatie |