CCINDLE: The Political Meaning of Theory

It is obvious thing to say that every scientific research needs theory. Theories provide us with abstract categories and their, more or less precise, definitions. They suggest connections between different elements of social realities and characterise them in a way that help us understand how society works, evolves or stays the same. Thanks to certain […]

First Feminist Democracy Lab: Anti-gender campaigns and the crisis of democracy

Thursday April 20, 2021, 16.00-19.00 University of Amsterdam, Roeterseiland campus A2.11 Over the last decades ‘anti-gender attacks’ are on the rise globally in the form of violence against feminist and LGBTQI activism and feminist and queer studies and expertise. These attacks are connected to the global trend of democratic erosion and illiberalism. Right wing movements […]

Democracy and feminist politics: a crucial relationship

Democracy is a constant, contested, and unfinished process of democratization. Rights and freedoms are not achieved or lost once and for all, but rather the object of ongoing struggles. Some social and political forces support democratization, while others oppose democratization, therefore contributing to democratic backsliding. Democratization and democratic backsliding are gendered processes. Our last CCINDLE […]

Beyond backsliding: Polish abortion laws from a democratic transition perspective

In the past 10 years, Poland has gone from a Third Wave transition success story to the fastest backsliding democracy in the world (V-Dem Institute Report, 2021). Rapidly declining quality of democracy has been ascribed to the populist right-wing government first formed by Law and Justice (PiS) in 2015 and its attacks on democratic institutions. […]