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On 1 October 1989, eleven gay male couples gathered in the registry office of Copenhagen's city chambers to take part in a civil ceremony, entering into a newly established entity called a registered partnership (RP). This book examines same-sex unions (SSU) policy developments western democracies and explains why the overwhelming majority of these countries has implemented a national law to recognise gay and lesbian couples. It presents an overview of recent developments in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) politics as well as the academic literatures that seek to interpret and analyse these developments. The study discussed adds to constructivist work on the international human rights regime, which has been a prominent focus of the literature. The book also examines the processes of international policy diffusion. It traces the development of a soft-law norm for relationship recognition within the broader European polity and illustrates how dissemination of this norm taken by transnational LGBT rights activists and supportive policy elites. The book presents in-depth case studies of Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the US to tease out the extent and causal mechanisms by which the SSU norm has influenced policy debates. It looks at the ways in which the SSU norm has shaped policy discourse about relationship recognition. The book examines why countries with broadly similar parliamentary structures, party systems, levels of religiosity and confessional heritages have adopted different models of SSU policies. Finally, it inspects how much the European SSU norm has affected policy debates in Canada and the US.
Kollman 02_Tonra 01 03/12/2012 12:15 Page 23 2 Sexual citizenship, LGBT movements and the relationship recognition debate in western democracies Since the late 1980s state recognition of same-sex couples, and more recently the opening of marriage, have become the central focus of LGBT rights movements in almost all western societies. Although the idea is not entirely new, this focus on relationship recognition does represent a significant change in the prioritisation of movement goals from the 1970s and 1980s. This shift has occurred despite the fact that in
The West of which we speak is defined by the values of liberal democracy, individual freedom, human rights, tolerance and equality under the rule of law. This book explores how Islamist terror and Russian aggression as companion threats to the West when terrorists target Russia as well as the United States and its allies. The threats posed by Islamist terror and Russian aggression present themselves in very different ways. In the time of transatlantic traumas, the Islamist terrorist threat and the Russian threat have worked diligently and with some success. The book examines the hatred of Islamists towards Western democracies, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union for their involvement in the Middle East politics for several decades. There is no single explanation for the rising popularity of illiberalism in the Western democracies; a combination of factors has produced a general sense of malaise. The book discusses the sources of discontent prevailing in the Western countries, and looks at the rise of Trumpism, Turkey and its Western values as well as the domestic tensions between Turkey's political parties. It suggests a radical centrist populist Western strategy could be applied to deal with the threats and challenges, reinvigorating the Western system. The book also touches upon suggestions relating to illiberalism in Europe, Turkey's drift away from the West, and the Brexit referendum.
states, others, like the GATT [General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade], were only for the capitalist world. There was an order, which, in theory, combined Western democracy with a more-or-less regulated capitalism: the so-called liberal order – although perhaps ‘liberal’ isn’t the most precise term, either in political or economic terms. There were of course other characteristics. The promotion of human rights became one, for example, albeit selective. When South Korea was still under dictatorship, we would ask ‘What about South Korea? Shouldn’t it
. ( 2013 ), ‘ 21st Century Welfare ’, New Left Review , 84 , 5 – 40 . Lebaron , G. and Ayers , A. ( 2013 ), ‘ The Rise of a “New Slavery”? Understanding Unfree Labour through Neoliberalism ’, Third World Quarterly , 34 : 5 , 837 – 92 . Mair , P. ( 2013 ), Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy ( London : Verso ). Meagher , K. ( 1990 ), ‘ The Hidden Economy: Informal and Parallel Trade in Northwestern Uganda ’, Review
In liberal democracies there is a belief that citizens ought to take an active interest in what is happening in the political world. Political debate in modern Western democracies is a complex and often rowdy affair. There are three fundamental political issues: 'politics', 'power' and 'justice', which feature in almost all political discussions and conflicts. The book assesses the degree to which the state and state sovereignty are disappearing in the modern world of 'globalised' politics, economics and culture and new international institutions. The main features of the nation and the problems of defining it are outlined: population, culture, history, language, religion, and race. Different types of democracy and their most important features are discussed. 'Freedom' is usually claimed to be the prime objective of political activity. The book discusses equality of human rights, distributional equality, equality before the law, the claims for group equality on the grounds of race, gender, class. Rights, obligations and citizenship are closely associated. Ideology is the driving force of political discourse. The book also discusses nationalism's growth and development over the last two centuries with particular reference to its main features and assumptions. It outlines the development of conservatism as a political ideology and movement in Britain during the last two centuries. An overview of liberalism, socialism, Marxism, anarchism, and Fascism follows. Environmentalism and feminism are also discussed. Finally, the book talks about how ideological change occurs and stresses the importance of rationality in politics.
Kollman 01_Tonra 01 03/12/2012 12:14 Page 1 1 Introduction: the same-sex unions revolution in western democracies On 1 October 1989 eleven gay male couples gathered in the registry office of Copenhagen’s city chambers to do what no other same-sex couples in modern history had done, namely take part in a civil ceremony to have their relationships recognised by a state. The civil institution these couples were entering was not officially marriage, but rather a newly established entity called a registered partnership (RP). The ceremony the state had created in
Kollman 04_Tonra 01 03/12/2012 12:41 Page 65 4 Same-sex unions: the globalisation of an idea 1 This chapter examines same-sex unions policy developments in eighteen western democracies and utilises this broad-based analysis to address the study’s three over-arching empirical questions: (1) How can we explain the wave of SSU policy adoption that has occurred across western democracies since 1989? (2) Why have a minority of western democracies failed to adopt such laws or been laggards in doing so? (3) Why have adopter countries implemented different models of
models influence domestic outcomes. In this chapter I draw on this literature to develop a theoretical framework to explain how processes of international learning and norm diffusion have catalysed SSU policy adoption in many western democracies as well as why the influence of these processes has varied across countries. As the word synergy implies, IR scholars also have a great deal to learn from LGBT politics and SSU policy. Given the field’s recent interest in both international policy diffusion and the international human rights regime, it is somewhat surprising
out of government by building cordon sanitaires. It is clear that the geopolitical risks caused by Kremlin-friendly ideologies and activities of populist parties are an additional reason to keep populist parties out of government. 36 Combatting populism is not only necessary to defend liberal democracy against its enemies within the Western democracies, but it may be even more urgent in order to defend our free societies against external enemies whose aim it is to undermine the Western democratic order. 37 Notes 1 Accessed 4 December 2017. 2 https