Explaining Policy Outcomes in Federal Contexts: The Politics of Reproductive Rights in Argentina and Mexico

Abstract

This article explains the political and institutional factors that affect reproductive rights policies in Argentina and Mexico. Consistent with the comparative literature on gender, politics and institutions, the article reveals that federal arrangements define the arenas in which advocates can challenge governments. The comparative analysis suggests that the content and variations of policy outcomes are not only determined by the legal distribution of such rights. Women's positions towards abortion and contraception was greatly shaped by partisanship and ideology, and this was critical to legislative outcomes, while the number of women legislators was only important to introduce the issues. Important for further research are the effects of institutional and party instability on women's organising in legislatures, and the relevance of links between women's groups outside legislature and political parties for the success of gender equality policies.

Federalism, two-level games and the politics of abortion rights implementation in subnational Argentina

“…Gender and federalism scholars have analysed the impact of state architecture on gender politics and policies across national territories. 1,6,[9][10][11][12] Although there are mixed positions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of federalism for the implementation of gender policies, this literature generally agrees that the delegation of policy powers to subnational units leads to the uneven enforcement of women's rights throughout national territories. 1 Work in this field regarding the Argentinean case has argued that variations in the implementation of women's rights across the country are due to: the intensity of the local electoral competition and the strength of women's organisational capacity; 1 political parties' positions and the ideology and number of women legislators; 10 and the way party dynamics are territorialised, i.e.…”

International Forest Policy by International and Transnational Organizations

“…How they will pursue this depends on how responsibilities regarding a certain issue are vertically distributed between the national and subnational governments (Lopreite 2014) but national bureaucracies will remain in a better position. In cases where subnational bureaucracies have the competency over certain issues they might be stronger than in issues of national competences (Lopreite 2014). Federal constitutions granting the subnational level with full regulatory power can obstruct negotiations and implementation of international regimes since national government might not be able to bind subnational governments (Hudson 2012).…”

“…Domestic actors then can use these regimes to shift the power balance in their favor. However, how important federalism is depends on how responsibilities regarding certain issues are vertically distributed between the national and the subnational governments (Lopreite 2014). In cases where the issue at stake is within provincial competencies, the national level will try to use the international sphere to increase their responsibility (Scharpf 2006, Wibowo and.…”

“…At the same time they joined the development of the PEFC standard, being part of the CERFOAR association . In cases where the jurisdiction over an issue lies at the national level, the subnational level can still use agenda setting and bills initiation to influence policy change (Lopreite 2014). …”

“…As a response to this shift in power balance, subnational bureaucracies try to get involved in international issues as well. How they will pursue this depends on how responsibilities regarding a certain issue are vertically distributed between the national and subnational governments (Lopreite, 2014) but national bureaucracies will remain in a better position. In cases where subnational bureaucracies have the competency over certain issues they might be stronger than in issues of national competences (Lopreite, 2014).…”