Comparing the Europeanization of Multiple Inequalities in Southern Europe: A Discursive-Institutionalist Analysis

Abstract

The EU and the member states have progressively developed a legal and institutional framework for dealing with inequality, and in the past decade they have intensified their political treatment of multiple inequalities (Van der Vleuten, 2007; Bell, 2002). In this chapter we explore the Europeanization of the political treatment of inequality in three Southern European Countries (SECs), arguing that, although EU influence has been crucial in introducing the political treatment of inequalities in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the different ways in which Europe ‘hits home’ depend on the specific domestic context, which influences the type of equality policy implementation, social learning, and political usage of the EU that occurs in these countries. We thus comparatively study the ways in which inequalities of gender, race or ethnicity, and sexual orientation have been institutionally treated, in terms of both legislation and institutional bodies, in the three Southern countries’ responses to the EU equality directives (see also Buzogány’s Chapter 7). To further understand differences in the Europeanization of the political treatment of inequalities in our sample, we will also analyse discursive factors such as resonant frames and references to the EU in policy documents.

We thank members of the QUING research team, especially researchers who have worked with us on the cases of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the EU: Alba Alonso (acknowledgments also for her feedback on the Portuguese case), Elena Del Giorgio (whom we also acknowledge for conducting the Italian interviews), Ana F. de Vega, Maxime Forest, Valentina Longo, Silvia López, Inês Nunes, Amaia Pérez, Elin Peterson, Raquel Platero, Lise Rolandsen. We wish to thank people who have kindly participated in our interviews. Finally, Emanuela Lombardo thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for supporting her research through the 2006 Ramón y Cajal Programme.