Explaining Domestic Violence Policy Outcomes in Chile and Argentina
- 1 January 2010
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Latin American Politics and Society
- Vol. 52 (3), 1-29
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2010.00088.x
Abstract
This article explains why Chile has outperformed Argentina in policy responses to the problem of domestic violence. It argues that policy variation is due to both macro-level institutional features (state capacity and centralization) and to more contingent political factors that shape the structure, role, and resources of the women's policy agencies that coordinate and implement domestic violence policies. The initial design of Chile's National Women's Service has allowed it to act as a crucial “insider” ally to advocacy groups. In contrast, Argentina's National Women's Council has suffered repeated downgrading and loss of resources due to ideological conflicts and changes in government, rendering it unable to coordinate policy responses to domestic violence effectively or to act as an ally to advocates inside and outside the state seeking increased resources and more effective policy responses to violence against women.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Re(gion)alizing Women's Human Rights in Latin AmericaPolitics & Gender, 2009
- What Can Historical Institutionalism Offer Feminist Institutionalists?Politics & Gender, 2009
- The Effectiveness of Legal Strategies in ArgentinaPublished by Duke University Press ,2009
- Feminist Politics in Contemporary ChilePublished by Duke University Press ,2009
- Pushing Back the Boundaries: Social Policy, Domestic Violence and Women's Organisations in PeruJournal of Latin American Studies, 2006
- En-gendering the Police: Women's Police Stations and Feminism in Sao PauloLatin American Research Review, 2004
- Human Rights and Domestic ViolencePolitical Science Quarterly, 2002
- Advocating feminism: The Latin American Feminist NGO 'Boom'International Feminist Journal of Politics, 1999
- Political Science and the Three New InstitutionalismsPolitical Studies, 1996
- Historical institutionalism in comparative politicsPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1992