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This paper focuses on campaigns against the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). These campaigns not only obstructed ratification processes in a number of countries, but also that the openly hostile and highly gendered attacks had a direct impact on women’s rights activists and their work, seriously hindering their work, but also affecting their well-being and safety. In this paper we explore the violent implications of the campaigns against the Istanbul Convention which are part of wider anti-gender campaigns. We argue that the violence of the campaigns and the violent implications should be considered gendered political violence, which effectively marginalizes women and other targeted groups and obstructs their participation in society and politics and as such is central to current autocratization tendencies and undermining of democracy.

Abstract In an era of post-truth, the legitimacy of policy knowledge is questioned, especially in de-democratizing contexts where governments purposefully engage in post-truth politics to support their regimes. In such contexts, technocratic evidence-based policymaking is undermined, and the role played by policy advice changes. Recognizing the significance of political contextual factors that might differ across de-democratizing contexts, we analyzed how changes in policymaking and public administration in de-democratization contexts impact policy advice, focusing on think tanks in two de-democratizing countries of the European Union: Hungary and Poland. We identify four aspects of policymaking that are particularly consequential for the role of think tanks and the knowledge they produce in policymaking processes: questioning and politicizing expertise, centralizing policymaking, politicizing public administration, and dismantling accountability mechanisms. We argue that changes in policymaking along these four aspects are conducive to a controlled policy advice system, favoring short-term policy advice aligned with government ideology, while marginalizing and excluding the actors and knowledge that do not align. Our research, along with other literature on knowledge regimes in consolidated autocracies, suggests that control in these European Union–based contexts is not complete, and the think tank field continues to be characterized by diversity, particularly contestation and polarization between those who are aligned with the regime and those who oppose it. We substantiate our claims using an original interview dataset on think tanks in Hungary and Poland.

01 02 What is the relative importance of different inequalities for policymaking? Should they all be protected similarly, or are some different and deserving of wider protection? Does the widening protection of multiple inequalities open up the potential for addressing their intersections as well, or is more specific attention needed if intersectionality is to be addressed by equality institutions? The current European arena provides a laboratory for comparative research about these questions. The last decade has seen a steady move away from policy approaches that address different inequalities separately and a move towards an integrated approach to multiple inequalities. This collection maps the ways in which multiple inequalities are being addressed institutionally in Europe, and identifies the changing patterns of institutionalization. Using country-based and region-specific case studies it offers a comparative analysis of the multidimensional equality regimes that are emerging in Europe, and analyses the potential that these have for 'institutionalizing intersectionality'. 02 02 An exploration of the ways that multiple inequalities are being addressed in Europe. Using country-based and region-specific case studies it provides an innovative comparative analysis of the multidimensional equality regimes that are emerging in Europe, and reveals the potential that these have for institutionalizing intersectionality. 19 02 Judith Squires and Heje Skjeie are leading international scholars in this area and bring together the key figures in Gender Studies and Equality/Diversity studies Comparative - an analysis of European equality institutions Original new hypothesis about the explanations for the changing form of equality institutions 16 02 Barry, B. (2001), Culture and Equality. Cambridge: Polity Press. Bell, M. (2003) 'The Right to Equality and Non-Discrimination' in T. Hervey and J. Kenner (eds) Breitenbach, E., A. Brown, F. Mackay and J. Webb (eds) (2002) The Changing Politics of Gender Equality in Britain, Basingstoke, Palgrave. Bustela, M. and C. Ortbals (2007), 'The Evolution of State Feminism: a Fragmented landscape' in J. Outshoorn and J. Kantola (eds), Basingstoke: Palgrave. Cooper. D (2005) Challenging Diversity: Rethinking Equality and the Value of Difference. Cambridge University Press. Fredman, S. and S. Spencer (2003) (ed.) Age as an Equality Issue Hart Publishers. Kymlicka,W. (1995) Multicultural Citizenship Oxford: Oxford University Press. Outshoorn, J and J. Kantola (2007) Changing State Feminism. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Phillips A. (1999), Which Equalities Matter? Cambridge: Polity Press. Phillips, A. (2007) MultiCulturalism Without Culture, Princeton University Press. Schiek, D. and V. Chege, eds. (2008) European Non-Discrimination Law: Comparative Perspectives on Multidimensional Equality Law. Routledge Squires, J. (2007) The New Politics of Gender Equality. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Stetson D. McBride and A. Mazur, (1995), (eds.), Comparative State Feminism Oxford, Oxford University Press. 13 02 ANDREA KRIZSAN Research Fellow at the Center for Policy Studies of the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. She has worked on several comparative research projects dealing with gender and other equality policies, most recently the project 'Quality of Gender+ Equality Policies in Europe' (QUING). Her main research interests include understanding policy change and the role of non-conventional policy actors in bringing about change in Central and Eastern Europe. Her most recent project concerns reforms of domestic violence policies in five Central and Eastern European countries. Her publications include articles in Social Politics , Ethnic and Racial Studies , European Integration Online Papers , Policy Studies , Journal for Ethnic and Minority Studies , chapters in several edited volumes, and an edited volume on ethnic monitoring and data collection. HEGE SKJEIE Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway. JUDITH SQUIRES Professor of Political Theory and Dean of the Faculty Social Sciences and Law, University of Bristol, UK. Her publications include: Contesting Citizenship , co-edited with Birte Siim (2008), The New Politics of Gender Equality (2007) and Gender in Political Theory (1999). She co-edits the Palgrave Gender and Politics Book Series (with Johanna Kantola) and is Reviews Editor for the journal Government and Opposition . She is a member of the European Consortium of Political Research Press board and was appointed an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2009. 04 02 Institutionalizing Intersectionality? A Theoretical Framework; A.Krizsan, H.Skjeie & J.Squires The European Union: Initiator of a New European Anti-Discrimination Regime?; J.Kantola & K.Nousiainen Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the Nordic Countries: Anti-Discrimination and Equality in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden; A.Borchorst, L.Freidenvall, J.Kantola, L.Reisel & M.Teigen Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the 'Big Three': The Changing Equality Framework in France, Germany, Britain; C.Hermanin & J.Squires Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the Low Countries: Belgium and The Netherlands; K.Celis, J.Outshoorn, P.Meier & J.Motmans Institutionalizing Intersectionality in Southern Europe: Italy, Spain and Portugal; A.Alonso, M.Bustelo, M.Forest & E.Lombardo Institutionalizing Intersectionality in Central and Eastern Europe: Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia; A.Krizsan & V.Zentai European Equality Regimes: Institutional Change and Political Intersectionality; A.Krizsan, H.Skjeie & J.Squires 31 02 A comparative analysis of the multidimensional equality regimes that are emerging in Europe 08 02 Insitutionalizing Intersectionality is an essential tool for understanding and promoting democratic performance in the 21st century. It maps out the new concept of intersectionality as it has been transposed into government structures at the EU level and across many of the member states. The book's systematic, empirical and comparative approach carried out by a line-up of top scholars makes it a must-read for academics and policy practitioners alike. Professor Amy G. Mazur, Washington State University. 'The concept of intersectionality has come to loom large in debates about equality, discrimination and social inclusion across Europe. It poses difficult questions for policymakers, activists and academics alike, by focusing attention on the multiple and overlapping forms of inequality that exist in contemporary society. This book provides an outstanding comparative and multi-disciplinary overview of how European governance structures have tried to come to grips with intersectionality, with its highly impressive range of contributors providing invaluable criticial perspectives and insightful analysis on developments in this field.' Colm O' Cinneide, Reader in Laws, UCL Faculty of Laws

Trends of de-democratization across Europe and the Americas are emerging, along with opposition to gender equality and threats to previous gender equality policy gains. Yet de-democratization has been barely analysed through the lens of gender equality, and so far, efforts to systematically analyse the implications for inclusive democracy and the representation of gender interests are lacking. Backsliding in gender policies, and new forms of feminist engagement with hostile states and publics, also raise new challenges to the literature on gender and politics. In this article we explore gender equality policy backsliding in fragile democracies. Backsliding and de-democratization processes in these contexts pose a series of important challenges to how we have thought about gender policy change in progressive, mainly Western democratic contexts until now. We propose a conceptual framework discussing these two conceptually interesting realms: backsliding in gender equality policies, and feminist responses to backsliding. We illustrate our framework with empirical observations from four backsliding or temporarily backsliding Central and Eastern European countries: Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. With our article we aim to contribute to the understanding of gendered aspects of de-democratization both in gender and politics literature and in mainstream democratization literature.

Research on EU conditionality in equality policy in Hungary shows that while the formal EU acquis has been transposed in a fast and successful way, its enforcement and application largely lag behind. Most researchers explain this weak enforcement with factors such as state capacity problems, the absence of inclusive policy making, and low norm resonance at the domestic level. This paper analyzes how changes in EU influence in the post-accession, post-conditionality period contribute to maintaining compliance with and improving the enforcement of EU equality policy in Hungary. It aims to understand implementation processes that take place in the post-accession period through the Hungarian case of equality policy. The paper argues that in order to capture the impact of the EU in the post-accession period, one must look beyond formal transposition-related mechanisms and increasingly at financial assistance and social learning mechanisms. While mechanisms connected to formal transposition might suggest major drawbacks in formal compliance, financial assistance and social learning mechanisms seem to address more directly the application and enforcement problems that Hungary faces in the equality realm. The paper shows that these mechanisms directly and indirectly impact the most crucial factors that determine enforcement – state capacity, the strength and involvement of civil society, and norm resonance. A slow but steady move toward sustainable improvement in enforcement is indicated.

The EU accession process was expected by many—both policy actors and academics—to bring substantive changes to gender equality policies in Hungary. The basis of these expectations was that gender issues have been on the agenda of the European Communities since the 1970s with a continuously widening scope (Verloo 2001). By the time of the Eastern enlargement, the European Union had an extended set of gender equality policies (both “hard” regulation and “soft” policy measures), especially compared to the accession countries. The existence of this gap and the need for harmonization led many to draw the conclusion: the accession