The year 1918 was significant in many ways, seeing the end of World War 1. At the same time, the impact and transformational effects of this event enabled civil society activists and politically institutionalised actors in European countries to pick up the threads of democratic social movements and parliamentary aspirations, and make use of “political opportunity structures” to obtain citizen rights for larger parts of the population. One result of this process – albeit with a difference between European states – was that more groups in society gained suffrage. Amongst those were large sections of the working class and women. While the vote was won for some new social groups in European societies, others were still excluded. After one centennium of struggle for political participation, we would like to discuss specific problems of politics of belonging. The question concerning the full recognition of citizen rights was and continually is connected to ideas of a specific membership of a nation state, a fact that denotes the particular problem of membership and non-membership and of inside and outside. This Research Topic will take account of this special field of tension of democratisation – e.g. inclusion through exclusion – from a perspective of social history, political science, gender studies and intersectionality approaches. This analytical foil shall be used to examine the relationship between state or government action and civil society, as well as the reproduction of social and political inequality despite increasing democratisation movements.

This collection establishes a highly topical, new, international field of study: that of gender, education and citizenship. It brings together for the first time important cutting-edge research on the contribution of the educational system to the formation of male and female citizens. It shows how gender relations operate behind apparently neutral concepts of liberal democratic citizenship and citizenship education. The editors asked leading international educationalists to describe the theoretical frameworks and methodologies they used to research gender and citizenship. Challenging Democracy suggests ways in which the educational system could help develop genuinely inclusive democratic societies in which men and women play an equal role in shaping the meaning of citizenship.

As developments in the European Union and elsewhere make the re-examination of citizenship a pressing issue, this book reflects on the persisting "masculine" character of contemporary democracy and the measures taken in the EU to combat it. Combining a theoretical approach with a specific critique of EU gender policy, The Gender of Democracy argues that substantial democracy as a social project cannot co-exist with the existing system of gender relations ,which are inherently dichotomous and thus demarcate social categories of superior and inferior status. Drawing on utopian thought, Maro Pantelidou Maloutas proposes a re-examination of the notion of the gendered subject and a revision of the dominant perceptions of the relations between sex, sexuality and gender. The book contains a critique of specific EU gender policies and shows how in seeking to do away with gender inequality, simply formulating policies that are pro-women is not enough. In order to approach democracy’s emancipatory component, far-reaching policies which deconstruct rather than modernize gender relations are needed.

Globalization poses new challenges for the modern welfare state and democracies. One controversial issue is how struggles for economic equality are linked with struggles for recognition of difference according to gender, ethnicity and sexuality. The Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment examines the political and academic debates about the inclusion or exclusion of women and marginalized social groups from different policy contexts. The focus is on the different class and gender regimes influencing the interplay of political, civil and social citizenship at different levels of politics.

Focusing on the relationship between gender, education and citizenship, this book explores, from a feminist perspective, how the concept of citizenship has been used in relation to gender, and how young people are being prepared for male and female forms of citizenship.

Published in 1998, this is an edited volume of papers on the theme of participation and citizenship for women. It focuses particularly on the necessary conditions for full participation of women as citizens within a modern liberal democracy. For this question it takes the Netherlands as an interesting case study, because it shows the need for a close connection between social and political participation. The editors aim to draw together often separate discussions about citizenship in international literature - a political-theoretical discussion of democracy and a social-policy discussion on the welfare state. The papers address issues including the labour market, public goods, welfare laws, affirmative action programmes and future development for girls. The book also develops the interrelation of social and political participation from the perspective of citizenship. It relates information on the Dutch case study to international comparative research on democracy and welfare states, as well as to broader international discussions on gender and citizenship.

"Devoting particular emphasis to Bolivia, Chile, and Mexico, proposes a theory of civil society to explain the economic and political challenges for continuing democratization in Latin America"--Provided by publisher.