Welcome to Governing Difference's Website
Governing Difference is a project within University of Vienna's research priority area European Integration and Southeastern / Eastern Europe.
International Conference: "Governing Difference"
On June 15, 2009 the project team "Governing Difference" will present main findings of the research in a final international conference.
Papers will be presented by the GD research team as well as by renowned scholars, key activists and politicians.
Venue: Aula at the Campus, court 1.11
Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna
9-18:00
Attendance is free. Please register at: governing-difference@univie.ac.at
Equality and Difference in South Eastern Europe
In the last decade Central and South Eastern European Countries have been characterized by processes of economic transformation, state and nation building, political transition to democracy under the rule of law and the commitment to joining the European Union.
The process of transition to democracy has also been a process of discursive re-gendering of society and politics. A great quantity of research has been conducted on how violent transformation, system changes and social ruptures are entangled with gender relations. Not only during wartime are gender relations used and exploited. Traditional gender attitudes and limitations of gender equality seem to accompany transition, and moreover, gender relations may be understood as resources of social, cultural and political transition.
Research Focus
The project »Governing Difference« examines the governance of religious, cultural and ethnic differences at the intersection with gender. We assume that issues of culture constitute important frames and resources in nation-building processes as well as in the political efforts to become a member of the European Union.
Four countries in different relationships with the European Union will be investigated and compared: Slovenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. These countries differ in several features, as for instance in the role of majority/minority religion and ethnicity and their distinct influences on policy-making. However, the countries have in common a period of transition they passed through on their way to democracy, economic liberalisation and national independence. The transition paths have been shaped by the ethnic, cultural and religious composition of the countries, which have led to vigorous, sometimes violent conflicts.
We have chosen societal contested core issues focusing on the interaction of gender, culture, ethnicity, and religion: Inter alia early/forced marriage and the wearing of headscarves in the public sphere. In various European countries, these issues have provoked heated debates on violence against women, on cultural patterns, the role of tradition and religion, patriarchy and migration.
Research Goals
The overall aim of the project is to find out which differences and similarities exist in policy-making concerning the regulation of gender equality in four South-East European Countries.
The first core issue of our research is devoted to the analysis of policy processes in the field of violence against women (in the family) at the intersection of class and ethnicity. The topic of violence against women has become a publicly debated issue. In all the countries of research, there were major legislative changes and political developments. We aim to establish how public discourse structures the political regulation and the governance processes of violence against women. We are interested particularly in the influences of European institutions (EU and CoE) regarding legal changes and law making processes on the national level. The protection from violence in the family is among the most important concerns of feminist and women’s groups’ world wide. Thus, the role of nongovernmental organisations (national and transnational) is a further highly relevant question in our research design. Moreover, we are looking at the issue of early / forced marriage at the intersection of gender, ethnicity and nationality in policymaking. In particular, we are interested whether the issue of early/forced marriage came on the political agenda in these countries and if so, whether special legal and political measures were developed and enacted.
The second core issue are debates on Muslim headscarves. The project wants to explain why debates over Muslim head- and body-covering are not as controversial as in West European countries although Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bulgaria have high numbers of Muslim population. The project focuses on framing the Muslim headscarf at the intersection of gender, religion and nationality.
