Gender and the Rise of Authoritarianism: A Research Agenda

The rise of authoritarianism across the world in recent years (Alizada et al. 2021, Freedom House 2021) has been characterised by backlash against universal rights (Guasti and Bustikova, 2020) and accompanied by numerous attempts to reverse the gains made towards gender equality and expansion of LGBTQ+ rights at the national and supranational levels (Flood et al. 2021). Indeed, movements opposing gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights have been increasingly successful in achieving their goals of stalling or reversing the expansion of universal rights. Simultaneously, the number of state actors that are increasingly allied with these (conservative) forces and hostile to universal rights has also soared. In sum, contesting gender norms is an intrinsic component of the current wave of autocratisation. Yet, extant comparative politics scholarship has only just begun to explore and conceptualise these new phenomena. Accordingly, this paper aims to outline a research agenda for the nexus between gender and processes of autocratization. We proceed by identifying five main areas of inquiry to fill the gaps in existing scholarship: (1) theoretically: how can we conceptualise and classify institutions of autocratic, democratic and hybrid regimes vis-à-vis gender equality?; (2) transnational linkages: how do movements opposing universal rights – gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights - diffuse and co-ordinate across borders? what are the causal mechanisms through which transnational movements against universal rights succeed in influencing domestic policies? (3) state cooperation:  to what extent do states that are hostile to existing norms of gender equality coordinate with each other in order to prevent diffusion of universal rights and/or reverse gains on universal rights driven by international organisations such as the European Union and the United Nations? (4) international norm diffusion: What specific actors and process can be identified in the norm diffusion and authoritarian learning in the field of rights? Can ‘authoritarian learning’ be detected across countries (for example between FIDESZ in Hungary and Law and Justice in Poland)?; (5) democratic resilience: under which circumstances does civil society successfully defend against backlash against universal rights? What is the role of counter-majoritarian institutions such as courts and other political institutions in this process?