Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T05:50:11.597Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Authoritarian Gender Equality Policy Making: The Politics of Domestic Violence in Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2023

Janet Elise Johnson
Janet Elise Johnson*
Affiliation:
Brooklyn College, City University of New York, USA
*
Email: Johnson@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article provides an analytical framework for understanding why and how many authoritarian regimes have recently adopted reforms that address gender equality. I illustrate and hone the framework by tracing three policy-making processes on domestic violence in Russia, an important and least-likely case for such reforms. While recent scholarship finds the importance of international leverage, strategic actions by women’s groups, and regime interest in sidelining religious extremists, this study highlights other opportunities and agents and specifies authoritarian mechanisms such as intra-elite conflict, signaling between the autocrat and elites, and selective responsiveness. Drawing on the scholarship on authoritarian regime dynamics, policy making in Russia, and gender policy making, this study contributes to the literature on the relationship between gender and regime type by focusing on the micrologics of authoritarian policy making.

Keywords

Russiagender policydomestic violenceanti-genderauthoritarianismregime dynamicsinstitutionalism
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2023 , pp. 1035 - 1060
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ananyev, Maxim. 2018. “Inside the Kremlin: The Presidency and Executive Branch.” In The New Autocracy: Information, Politics, and Policy in Putin’s Russia, ed. Treisman, Daniel. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 29–48.Google Scholar
Andreeva, Anna, Drozhashchikh, Nataliia, and Nelaeva, Galina. 2021. “Women’s Rights and the Feminists’ ‘Dirty Plans’: Media Discourses During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia.” Affilia 36 (3): 319–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antonova, Iuliia. 2016. “Nasiliev otnoshenii zhenshiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii: Pravovoianalis situasii” [Violence against women in the Russian Federation: Legal analysis of the situation]. Justice Initiative, October 28. https://www.srji.org/resources/search/otchet-pravovoy-initsiativy-po-teme-nasilie-v-otnoshenii-zhenshchin-v-rossiyskoy-federatsii/ (accessed March 29, 2019).Google Scholar
Arat, Yeşim. 2022. “Democratic Backsliding and the Instrumentalization of Women’s Rights in Turkey,” Politics & Gender 18 (4): 911–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barshev, Vladimir. 2020. “MVD otkazalos’ uzhestochat’ otvetsvennost’ za poboi” [Ministry of Internal Affairs will not increase accountability for domestic violence]. RBC, May 10. https://www.rbc.ru/society/10/05/2020/5eb787909a7947db753ac5ca.Google Scholar
BBC Russian Service. 2017. “Duma rezhila ne sazhat’ za domashnii poboi” [Duma decided not to put people in jail for domestic violence]. January 11. http://www.bbc.com/russian/features-38586077 (accessed January 19, 2023).Google Scholar
Bjarnegård, Elin. 2013. Gender, Informal Institutions and Political Recruitment: Explaining Male Dominance in Parliamentary Representation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjarnegård, Elin, and Zetterberg, Pär. 2022. “How Autocrats Weaponize Women’s Rights.” Journal of Democracy 33 (2): 60–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blofield, Merike, and Haas, Liesl. 2013. “Policy Outputs.” In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, eds. Waylen, Georgina, Celis, Karen, Kantola, Johanna, and Weldon, S. Laurel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 703–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blofield, Merike, and Touchton, Michael. 2020. “Moving Away from Maternalism? The Politics of Parental Leave Reforms in Latin America.” Comparative Politics 53 (1): 1–27.Google Scholar
Bluhm, Katharina, and Brand, Martin. 2019. “‘Traditional Values’ Unleashed: The Ultraconservative Influence on Russian Family Policy.” In New Conservatives in Russia and East Central Europe, eds. Bluhm, Katharina and Varga, Mihai. London: Routledge, 223–44.Google Scholar
Bogdanova, Elena, Cook, Linda J., and Kulmala, Meri. 2018, “The Carrot or the Stick? Constraints and Opportunities of Russia’s CSO Policy.” Governance 70 (4): 501–13.Google Scholar
Boix, Carles, and Svolik, Milan W.. 2013. “The Foundations of Limited Authoritarian Government: Institutions, Commitment, and Power-Sharing in Dictatorships.” Journal of Politics 75 (2): 300–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brancati, Dawn. 2014. “Democratic Authoritarianism: Origins and Effects.” Annual Review of Political Science 17: 313–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, Sarah Sunn, and Gao, Eleanor. 2017. “Small Tribes, Big Gains: The Strategic Uses of Gender Quotas in the Middle East.” Comparative Politics 49 (2): 149–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charrad, Mounira M., and Adams, Julia. 2011. “Introduction: Patrimonialism, Past and Present.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 636 (1): 6–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chlen SPCH schitaet. 2017. “Chto dekriminalizatsiia poboev v sem’e ne uluchshit situatsiiu” [Member of HRC believes decriminalization of family beatings will not improve situation]. RIA Novosti, January 11. https://ria.ru/society/20170111/1485529741.html (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Cook, Linda, Aasland, Aadne, and Prisyazhnyuk, Daria. 2019. “Russian Pension Reform under Quadruple Influence.” Problems of Post-Communism 66 (2): 96–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corredor, Elizabeth S. 2019. “Unpacking ‘Gender Ideology’ and the Global Right’s Antigender Countermovement.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 44 (3): 613–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desposato, Scott W. 2001. “Legislative Politics in Authoritarian Brazil.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 26 (2): 287–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donno, Daniela, Fox, Sara, and Kaasik, Joshua. 2021. “International Incentives for Women’s Rights in Dictatorships.” Comparative Political Studies 42 (3): 451–92.Google Scholar
Donno, Daniela, and Kreft, Anne-Kathrin. 2019. “Authoritarian Institutions and Women’s Rights.” Comparative Political Studies 52 (5): 720–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duban, Elisabeth. 2020. “Research on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, Including in Situations of Social Disadvantage, in the Russian Federation.” Council of Europe, April. https://rm.coe.int/publication-research-on-vaw-and-dv-in-situations-of-social-disavantage/16809e4a04 (accessed May 26, 2020).Google Scholar
Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. 2022. “Women of the UAE.” September 30. https://www.uae-embassy.org/discover-uae/society/women-in-the-uae (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Flyvbjerg, Bent. 2006. “Five Misunderstandings about Case-Study Research.” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (2): 219–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gandhi, Jennifer. 2008. Political Institutions under Dictatorship. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gandhi, Jennifer, Noble, Ben, and Svolik, Milan. 2020. “Legislatures and Legislative Politics without Democracy.” Comparative Political Studies 53 (9): 1359–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geddes, Barbara, Wright, Joseph George, Wright, Joseph, and Frantz, Erica. 2018. How Dictatorships Work: Power, Personalization, and Collapse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gel’man, Vladimir, and Starodubtsev, Andrey. 2016. “Opportunities and Constraints of Authoritarian Modernisation: Russian Policy Reforms in the 2000s.” Europe-Asia Studies 68 (1): 97–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hale, Henry E. 2014. Patronal Politics: Eurasian Regime Dynamics in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellmeier, Sebastian, and Weidmann, Nils B.. 2020. “Pulling the Strings? The Strategic Use of Pro-government Mobilization in Authoritarian Regimes.” Comparative Political Studies 53 (1): 71–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Weldon, S. Laurel. 2012. “The Civic Origins of Progressive Policy Change: Combating Violence against Women in Global Perspective, 1975–2005.” American Political Science Review 106 (3): 548–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Weldon, S. Laurel. 2018. The Logics of Gender Justice: State Action on Women’s Rights around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2018. “‘I Could Kill You and No One Would Stop Me’: Weak State Response to Domestic Violence in Russia.” https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/russia1018_web3.pdf (accessed January 19, 2023).Google Scholar
IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union). 2018. “Women in National Parliaments.” http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm (accessed February 2, 2018).Google Scholar
IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union). 2022. “Monthly Ranking of Women in National Parliaments.” https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=11&year=2021 (accessed January 5, 2022).Google Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise. 2009. Gender Violence in Russia: The Politics of Feminist Intervention. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise. 2016. “Fast-Tracked or Boxed In? Informal Politics, Gender, and Women’s Representation in Putin’s Russia.” Perspectives on Politics 14 (3): 643–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise. 2018. The Gender of Informal Politics: Russia, Iceland and Twenty-First Century Male Dominance. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise, Novitskaya, Alexandra, Sperling, Valerie, and Sundstrom, Lisa McIntosh. 2021. “Mixed Signals: What Putin Says about Gender Equality.” Post-Soviet Affairs 37 (6): 507–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, Alice J. 2015. Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy. Ann Arbor: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karnaukh, Maria, and Coalson, Robert. 2019. “New Push to Pass Domestic-Violence Law Angers Russia’s ‘Traditional Values’ Conservatives.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, November 20. https://www.rferl.org/Watchdog/2019/11/20 (accessed January 19, 2023).Google Scholar
Kingdon, John W. 1984. [2014]. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Essex, UK: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Robin M. 2009. The Art of the Gut: Manhood, Power, and Ethics in Japanese Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledeneva, Alena V. 2013. Can Russia Modernise? Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levada Center. 2020. “Nasilie nad zhenshchinami” [Violence against women]. April 7. https://www.levada.ru/2020/04/07/nasilie-nad-zhenshhinami/ (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Lorch, Jasmin, and Bunk, Bettina. 2017. “Using Civil Society as an Authoritarian Legitimation Strategy: Algeria and Mozambique in Comparative Perspective.” Democratization 24 (6): 987–1005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magaloni, Beatriz. 2008. “Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule.” Comparative Political Studies 41 (4–5): 715–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malesky, Edmund, and Schuler, Paul. 2010. “Nodding or Needling: Analyzing Delegate Responsiveness in an Authoritarian Parliament.” American Political Science Review 104 (3): 482–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meduza . 2016. “The Russian Orthodox Church Says a New Ban on Domestic Violence Is an Assault on the Holy Scriptures.” July 4. https://meduza.io/en/news/2016/07/05/the-russian-orthodox-church-says-a-new-ban-on-domestic-violence-is-an-assault-on-the-holy-scriptures (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Meduza . 2020. “By the Numbers: The Real Scope of Domestic Violence in Russia.” January 30. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/01/30/by-the-numbers-the-real-scope-of-domestic-violence-in-russia (accessed February 1, 2020).Google Scholar
Meyer, Henry, and Galouchko, Ksenia. 2013. “Putin Allies Let Abuse Law Linger Despite Killings.” Bloomberg, June 23. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-27/putin-allies-let-abuse-law-linger-as-a-woman-is-killed-each-hour (accessed October 28, 2013).Google Scholar
Miller, Michael K. 2015a. “Elections, Information, and Policy Responsiveness in Autocratic Regimes.” Comparative Political Studies 48 (6): 691–727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Michael K. 2015b. “Electoral Authoritarianism and Human Development.” Comparative Political Studies 48 (12): 1526–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nazneen, Sohela, Hickey, Sam, and Sifaki, Eleni. 2019. Negotiating Gender Equity in the Global South: The Politics of Domestic Violence Policy. London: Taylor & Francis.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noble, Ben. 2020, “Authoritarian Amendments: Legislative Institutions as Intraexecutive Constraints in Post-Soviet Russia.” Comparative Political Studies 53 (9): 1417–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noble, Ben, and Schulmann, Ekaterina. 2018. “Not Just a Rubber Stamp: Parliament and Law-Making.” In The New Autocracy: Information, Politics, and Policy in Putin’s Russia, ed. Treisman, Daniel. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 49–82.Google Scholar
Novaya Gazeta . 2017. “Ne vremya dlia domashnego nasiliia: Obrashchenie k spikeru Valentine Mativenko nakanyne golosovaniia v Sovete Federatsii” [No time for domestic violence: Address to Speaker Valentina Matvienko on the eve of the vote in the Federation Council]. January 31. https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/01/31/71351-ne-vremya-dlya-domashnego-nasiliya (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Paneyakh, Ella, and Rosenberg, Dina. 2018. “The Courts, Law Enforcement, and Politics.” In The New Autocracy: Information, Politics, and Policy in Putin’s Russia, ed. Treisman, Daniel. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 217–48.Google Scholar
President of Russia. 2016. “Vladimir Putin’s Annual News Conference.” December 23. http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/53573 (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
President of Russia. 2019. “Vladimir Putin’s Annual News Conference.” December 19. http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/press_conferences/62366 (accessed January 26, 2023).Google Scholar
Putin, Vladimir. 2016. “Transcript: [Putin at] Conference of Court Chairmen.” February 26. http://russialist.org/transcript-putin-at-conference-of-court-chairmen/ (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Ramanov, Serafim. 2021. “Pivo, revnost,’ taburet” [Beer, jealousy, stool]. Novaya Gazeta, February 16. https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/02/16/89254-pivo-revnost-taburet?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=novaya&utm_campaign=issledovanie—provedennoe-uchastnikami-ha&fbclid=IwAR20VBRohpqjaSWKUEzXKpWyw4EGUJrZVkClPCfYOwmmBqxki5LnUFfaD_s (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John, and Szakonyi, David. 2019. “Elite Defection under Autocracy: Evidence from Russia.” American Political Science Review 113 (2): 552–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remington, Thomas F. 2007. “The Russian Federal Assembly, 1994–2004.” Journal of Legislative Studies 13 (1): 121–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RIA Novosti. 2016. “Moskal’kova podderzhala popravki Mizulinoi o nakazaniiakh za semeiniie poboi” [Moskalkova supported Mizulina’s amendments on punishments for family beatings]. November 8. https://ria.ru/society/20161108/1480907748.html.Google Scholar
RIA Novosti. 2017. “Mizulina: ‘Zakon o shlepkakh’—akt nenavisti po otnosheniu k sem’yam s det’mi” [Mizulina: “Slapping law”—an act of hatred toward families with children]. January 11. https://ria.ru/society/20170111/1485491217.html (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
ROC (Russian Orthodox Church). 2016. “Patriarshaia komissia po voprosam sim’e virazhaet obespokoennost’ v sviazi s priiatniem noboi redaksii stat’i 116 Ugolovnogo kodeksa” [The Patriarchal Family Commission expresses concern at the adoption of a new version of article 116 of the Criminal Code]. Official Site of the Moscow Patriarchy, July 4. http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4553320.html (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
ROC (Russian Orthodox Church). 2018. “Raz”yasneniye pozitsii Patriarshey komissii po voprosam sem’i, zashchity materinstva i detstva v otnoshenii prestupleniy, sovershayemykh v semeynom okruzhenii” [Explanation of the position of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Affairs, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood in relation to crimes committed in the family environment]. June 26. http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5227882.html (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Roggeband, Conny, and Krizsán, Andrea. 2020. “Reversing Gender Policy Progress: Patterns of Backsliding in Central and Eastern European New Democracies.” European Journal of Gender and Politics 1 (3): 367–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogov, Kirill, and Ananyev, Maxim. 2018. “Public Opinion and Russian Politics.” In The New Autocracy: Information, Politics, and Policy in Putin’s Russia, ed. Treisman, Daniel. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 191–216.Google Scholar
Russian Federation. 2016. “Federal’nyi Zakon.” https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/953398-6 (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Russian Federation Public Chamber. 2013. “Nasilie v Sem’e—Ostraia Sotsial’naia Problema Sovremennoi Rossii” [Violence in the family—An acute problem in contemporary Russia]. February 18. top.oprf.ru/news/10244.html (accessed April 23, 2016).Google Scholar
Schenk, Caress. 2018. Why Control Immigration? Strategic Uses of Migration Management in Russia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semukhina, Olga. 2020. “The Decriminalization of Domestic Violence in Russia.” Demokratizatsiya 28 (1): 15–45.Google Scholar
Sistema Obespecheniia Zakonodatel’noi Deiatel’nosti [System for Ensuring Legislative Activity]. 2018. “Zakonoproekt No. 953369-6: Bnesenii izmenenii v ugalovnij kodeks Rossiiskoi Federatsii i ugolovno-protsessual’nyi kodeks Rosiiskoi Federatsii po vorprosam soversshenstvovaniia osnovanii i poridadka osvobozhdeniia ot ugolovnoi otvetstvennosti” [Amending the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation on improving the grounds and procedure for exemption from criminal liability]. https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/953369-6 (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Sperling, Valerie. 2014. Sex, Politics, and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TASS Russian News Agency. 2017. “Russia’s Federation Council Backs Law on Decriminalizing Domestic Violence.” February 1. http://tass.com/politics/928466 (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Taylor, Brian D. 2014. “Police Reform in Russia: The Policy Process in a Hybrid Regime.” Post-Soviet Affairs 30 (2–3): 226–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treisman, Daniel, ed. 2018. The New Autocracy: Information, Politics, and Policy in Putin’s Russia. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2013. “Political Systems and Gender.” The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, eds. Waylen, Georgina, Celis, Karen, Kantola, Johanna, and Weldon, S. Laurel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 517–18.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2018. “Transparency and Integrity in Conducting Field Research on Politics in Challenging Contexts.” Perspectives on Politics 16 (3): 728–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2019. Seeking Legitimacy: Why Arab Autocracies Adopt Women’s Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). 2022. “Situation of Human Rights in Ukraine Stemming from the Russian Aggression.” A/HRC/RES/49/1, June 22. https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G22/277/44/PDF/G2227744.pdf?OpenElement (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
V-Dem Institute. 2022. “Democracy Report 2022: Autocratization Changing Nature.” October 10. https://v-dem.net/media/publications/dr_2022.pdf (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Verloo, Mieke, ed. 2018. Varieties of Opposition to Gender Equality in Europe. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VTsIOM (Russia Public Opinion Research Center). 2018. “Chto proishodit za zakhytymi dveryami” [What happened behind closed doors]. December 11. https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=9478 (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
VTsIOM (Russia Public Opinion Research Center). 2017. “B’et—znachit liubit? Ili rossiiane o dekriminalizatsii poboev v sem’ie” [Beats—means love? Or Russians about decriminalizing battery in the family]. January 19. https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=116035 (accessed January 20, 2023).Google Scholar
Weldon, S. Laurel. 2011. When Protest Makes Policy: How Social Movements Represent Disadvantaged Groups. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yurtaev, Alexey. 2020. “Inside the Fight over Russia’s Domestic Violence Law: Who Is Preventing Russia’s Domestic Violence Legislation from Going Ahead—and Does It Have Any Future?” openDemocracy, February 17. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-domestic-violence-law/?fbclid=IwAR2A0PsXYk8IYXwLQrNAFE9Ph07t808Ib6jNFZAlaX-hMegvetXPgUP3XNQ (accessed January 19, 2023).Google Scholar
Zezulin, Lena. 2016. “The Russian Orthodox Church, the Law, and Family Violence.” The Wheel, February 9. http://www.wheeljournal.com/blog/2016/2/9/lena-zezulin-the-russian-orthodox-church-the-law-and-family-violence (accessed January 19, 2023).Google Scholar