The Shift toward Parity Democracy in France and Spain

The reconfiguration of the state in recent years has affected the development of social movements. This article looks at France & Spain & analyzes the influence of three dimensions of state reconfiguration on social movements concerned with increasing the number of women in political office. The three dimensions of state reconfiguration are: the increasingly multilevel political decision-making arena in both France & Spain due to the transfer of powers from the central state to the other territorial levels of government; the change in the political discourse that now proposes less active state intervention in the economy & society; and, lastly, the erosion of the differences between Left & Right. In both countries parity mobilization has taken place both on the central state level & that of the European Union. In France (but not in Spain) the movement is cross-partisan, while in Spain (but not in France) it demands quotas & social rights that benefit women as a group. References. Adapted from the source document.