Louise K. Davidson-Schmich - Böcker

Why are some women leaders hailed as brilliant crisis managers while others draw widespread criticism? This book unpacks the circumstances under which women leaders can successfully navigate major crises. Gender, Leadership, and Crisis shows that gender role expectations can make or break a leader's reputation.Crises provide opportunities for women leaders to exhibit their leadership capacities if they act in accordance with gendered expectations. When women leaders act contrary to gendered expectations, it reinforces the idea that women are unfit leaders; to be considered successful crisis managers, women leaders should frame events in feminized terms, act collaboratively, and demonstrate empathy and meaning making rather than giving orders. The book focuses on how German Chancellor Angela Merkel and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern handled three kinds of crises: a gender-congruent crisis (COVID-19 pandemic), gender- neutral crises (natural disasters), and gender-incongruent crisis (nationalist terrorist attacks). These primary case studies are supplemented with chapters about Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Ebola epidemic), Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (27/F earthquake), and British Prime minister Theresa May (Manchester Stadium bombing). Most importantly, we show that women leaders can be perceived positively in a time of crisis when they act in line with gendered expectations.

After the Berlin Wall fell, scholars flocked to eastern Europe to conduct extensive opinion research on citizens' political attitudes and values. In eastern Germany, post-communist political elites were found to differ from western German politicians, exhibiting greater distrust of both political parties and party discipline, more political intolerance, a preference for economic equality over political freedom, and support for direct rather than representative democracy. These attitudes were expected to be hurdles to democratization.Yet only limited research has been done to determine whether eastern German politicians' attitudes and values actually influenced their actions. Becoming Party Politicians fills this empirical void by comparing eastern and western German state legislators in the decade following unification. While the two groups hold contrasting attitudes, they serve in virtually identical political institutions. The book finds little evidence to suggest that the political attitudes and values of eastern parliamentarians have hindered their adaptation to united Germany's political system.Instead, Germany's parliamentary and electoral institutions—together known as the party state—have created disciplined eastern parliamentarians. Placed in these identical parliamentary institutions, both eastern and western German legislators have responded similarly. Legislative voting on issues surrounding political tolerance, direct democracy, and economic equality can now be predicted on the basis of parliamentarians' partisan affiliation rather than their eastern or western origin.Davidson-Schmich's conclusions, based on personal interviews with state legislators and analysis of parliamentary debates between 1990 and 2002, not only shed light on German politics and the sources of legislator behavior; they also contribute to broader debates involving both the ability of western European political institutions to survive societal change and the influence of political institutions on the consolidation of democracy in post-communist settings.

Since the 1970s, quotas for female political candidates in elections have proliferated worldwide. Beyond increasing the numbers of women in high-level elected bodies and, thereby, women’s political representation, advocates claim that quotas foster gender-equal participation in democracy and create female role models. According to this reasoning, quotas also overcome barriers to women’s political participation, especially discriminatory practices in the selection of electoral candidates. Though such claims have persuaded policymakers to adopt quotas, little empirical evidence exists to verify their effects. In Gender Quotas and Democratic Participation, Louise K. Davidson-Schmich employs a pathbreaking research design to assess the effects of gender quotas on all phases of political recruitment. Drawing on interviews with, and an original survey of, potential candidates in Germany, she investigates the extent to which quotas and corresponding increases in women’s descriptive representation have resulted in similar percentages of men and women joining political parties, aspiring to elected office, pursuing ballot nominations, and securing selection as candidates. She also examines the effect of quotas on discriminatory selection procedures. Ultimately, Davidson-Schmich argues, quotas’ intended benefits have been only partially realized. Quotas give women greater presence in powerful elected bodies not by encouraging female citizens to pursue political office at rates similar to men’s, but by improving the odds that the limited number of politically ambitious women who do join parties will be elected. She concludes with concrete, original policy recommendations for increasing women’s political participation.

Germany serves as a case study of when and how members of intersectional groups—individuals belonging to two or more disadvantaged social categories—capture the attention of policymakers, and what happens when they do. This edited volume identifies three venues through which intersectional groups are able to form alliances and generate policy discussions regarding their concerns. Original empirical case studies focus on a wide range of timely subjects, including the intersexed, gender and disability rights, lesbian parenting, women working in STEM fields, workers’ rights in feminized sectors, women in combat, and Muslim women and girls.

The German Federal Election of 2021 was one of the most open and competitive in the post-war era. This book provides a systematic analysis of its domestic and international context, the shifting balance of the political parties, the election strategies and campaign themes, along with the challenges of government formation.

The German Federal Election of 2021 was one of the most open and competitive in the post-war era. This book provides a systematic analysis of its domestic and international context, the shifting balance of the political parties, the election strategies and campaign themes, along with the challenges of government formation.