Domestic Violence In Postcommunist States

Domestic violence has emerged as a significant public policy issue of transnational character and mobilization in the postcommunist era in Europe and Eurasia, as global forces have interacted with the agendas of governments, local and international women's groups, and human rights activists. The result of extensive collaboration among scholars and activist-practitioners -- many from postcommunist countries -- this volume examines the development of state policies, changes in public perceptions, and the interaction of national and international politics.

My dissertation examines the Russian state's response to sexual and domestic violence and the women's movements that have arisen to challenge both the state's inaction and the violence itself. My project is grounded in a 1999, eight-month research trip to Moscow and the provincial cities of Saratov and Orel, Russia, where I gathered data through participant observation. Transition theory argues that the liberalization of institutions and practices holds great promise for all people, including women, who may not be immediately incorporated as equal citizens but will have the political opportunity to fight for their inclusion. In contrast, feminist democratic theory finds that democratic liberalism, notably through its distinction between public and private spheres, institutionalizes its own obstacles to women's inclusion. Bridging these two theories, I use the issues of violence specific to women--woman battery, familiar rape, and sexual harassment--to examine the obstacles and opportunities for women created in postcommunism. I find that while the transition has created some political opportunity for women's movements, its greater impact has been the privatization of these forms of violence against women as outside the responsibility of the criminal-legal system. While there are policies that promise to protect (male-)citizens from violence in general, there are only limited promises for the violence that is specific to women. As the right to live free from bodily harm is both fundamental and necessary for political participation, the transition threatens to institutionalize the exclusion of women. As part of the growing body of literature on the Russian transition, my project injects a necessary concern for the role of activism, especially women's activism, in democratization and challenges transition theory to move beyond baseline procedures of democracy to take account of the inclusion and exclusion of citizens. Russia's transition from institutions antithetical to liberal democracy to those more democratic is a "natural experiment" that can highlight how democratic institutions facilitate and obstruct the citizenship of women.

Based on large research material collected in Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria Social change, Gender and Violence is the book which explores the impact of transition from communism and war on everyday life of women and men, as well as the way how everyday life and gender related changes affect women's vulnerability to domestic violence and trafficking in women. The book also explores the impact of micro level changes on development of civil society, women's movement, and legal and policy changes regarding violence against women. This is a unique book, which tries to look at violence against women as connected to oppression of both women and men. It argues that violence against women in post-communist and war affected societies is significantly connected to the increase of social stratification, economic hardship, unemployment, instability, uncertainty and related social stresses, changes in gender identity and structural inequalities brought by new world order. Using largely accounts of more than hundred interviewed people, the author shows vividly how, in post-communist societies, the contradictions of capitalism are interlaced with the mostly negative relics of communism. Moreover, the book shows how contradictory processes in post-communist societies have led to a rather paradoxical result: political pluralism and a capitalist economic system generated both violence against women and a women's movement, albeit not the conditions for a reduction of violence.

What are the factors that shape domestic violence policy change and how are variable gendered meanings produced in these policies? How and when can feminists influence policy making? What conditions and policy mechanisms lead to progressive change and which ones block it or lead to reversal? The Gender Politics of Domestic Violence analyzes the emergence of gender equality sensitive domestic violence policy reforms in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Tracing policy developments in Eastern Europe from the beginning of 2000s, when domestic violence first emerged on policy agendas, until 2015, Andrea Krizsán and Conny Roggeband look into the contestation that takes place between women’s movements, states and actors opposing gender equality to explain the differences in gender equality sensitive policy outputs across the region. They point to regionally specific patterns of feminist engagement with the state in which coalition-building between women’s organizations and establishing alliances with different state actors were critical for achieving gendered policy progress. In addition, they demonstrate how discursive contexts shaped by democratization frames and opposition to gender equality, led to differences in the politicization of gender equality, making gender friendly reforms more feasible in some countries than others.

Reports from war zones often note the obscene victimization of women, who are frequently raped, tortured, beaten, and pressed into sexual servitude. Yet this reign of terror against women not only occurs during exceptional moments of social collapse, but during peacetime too. As this powerful book argues, violence against women should be understood as a systemic problem—one for which the state must be held accountable. The twelve essays in Gender Violence in Peace and War present a continuum of cases where the state enables violence against women—from state-sponsored torture to lax prosecution of sexual assault. Some contributors uncover buried histories of state violence against women throughout the twentieth century, in locations as diverse as Ireland, Indonesia, and Guatemala. Others spotlight ongoing struggles to define the state’s role in preventing gendered violence, from domestic abuse policies in the Russian Federation to anti-trafficking laws in the United States. Bringing together cutting-edge research from political science, history, gender studies, anthropology, and legal studies, this collection offers a comparative analysis of how the state facilitates, legitimates, and perpetuates gender violence worldwide. The contributors also offer vital insights into how states might adequately protect women’s rights in peacetime, as well as how to intervene when a state declares war on its female citizens.

The aim of this edited volume is to explore and understand the influence of women's movement mobilization on domestic violence policy change in Central and Eastern Europe. Fifteen years ago domestic violence was barely present on the policy agenda of countries in the CEE region. By 2005 most countries of the region adopted laws and policies addressing it and proceeded with implementation. Domestic violence policy processes can be seen as one of the most remarkable successes of women's movements in the region, which may stand to challenge skepticism around the policy efficiency of women's movements in Central and Eastern Europe. While variation certainly exists in the extent to which policy change that ultimately took place responds to women's rights concerns, there is undoubted progress in all countries of the region. This volume addresses a series of questions: what are the dynamics that led to movement successes in the region? Which movements and the strategies they adopt are successful in promoting progressive policy change? Why do some movements manage to secure policy change that is women's rights friendly, while others lose control beyond setting the agenda? How do alliances, institutionalization and framing make a difference? And how patterns of achieving policy influence resemble or differ from patterns found in Western post-industrialized states? Are Central and Eastern European domestic violence policy processes any different? The book develops a theoretical framework explaining the links between mobilization and change, followed by the portrayal of in-depth case studies on Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania.--

Gender-based violence can take various forms - physical, sexual, psychological, and economic. Violence against women is a global public health problem and not only violates human rights, but also hampers productivity, reduces human capital, and undermines economic growth. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, human trafficking for sexual exploitation and domestic violence have become a significant problem in post-communist countries. The fall of the Soviet Union also shaped national gender policies in post-communist countries. Despite the common challenges they face, success in implementing anti-trafficking procedures and measures against domestic violence varies from country to country. According to the U.S. Department of State annual reports, Russia has been recognized as a country with an extremely low level of government effort to eliminate human trafficking since 2005. In June 2013, Russia was downgraded to the lowest possible Tier 3 ranking, which means that it might be subjected to certain sanctions. Russia is identified as a country of origin, transit, and destination for both victims of sex and labor trafficking. On the contrary, the Czech Republic has been ranked in Tier 1 before 2011 and again for three years in a row since 2012 which is a rare high ranking for a former post-communist country. Annually over fourteen thousand women in Russia are murdered by their current or former intimate partners. It literally means that every two hours three women in Russia die because of domestic violence. Despite alarming statistics, federal legislation to combat domestic violence is lacking in Russia. In a contrast, the Czech government introduced a comprehensive multilevel mechanism of protection of victims of domestic violence. Through comparison of policies against human trafficking and domestic violence in Russia and the Czech Republic, I attempt to evaluate recognition of gender-based violence and a strategy for fighting it in selected countries.

"Based on ethnographic research with victims of intimate partner violence since 2014, this book brings to the forefront women's experiences of, negotiations about, and contestations against violence and men's narratives about the reasons for their violence. It foregrounds the role of history, structural inequalities, and the cultural system of power hierarchy in situating and constructing intimate partner violence. Centering on men and women's narratives about violence, this book connects intimate partner violence with invisible structural violence -- the historical, cultural, political, economic, and legal context that gives rise to and perpetuates violence against women. Through examining the ways in which women's lives are constrained by various forms of violence, hierarchy, and inequality, this book shows that violence against women is a structural issue that is historically produced and politically and culturally engaged."--