Daniela Melo | Boston University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Daniela Melo
![Research paper thumbnail of Raquel Varela. A People's History of the Portuguese Revolution. Ed. by Peter Robinson. Transl. [from Portuguese] by Sean Purdy. [People's History.] Pluto Press, London2019. 334 pp. Ill. £75.00. (Paper; E-book: £19.99)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/87103409/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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Foreign Policy Analysis, 2019
This study explores the intra-elite role contestation and resolution within the State Department ... more This study explores the intra-elite role contestation and resolution within the State Department during the Portuguese Revolution, focusing on Henry Kissinger and the US ambassadors to Portugal, Stuart Nash Scott (1973–75) and Frank Carlucci (1975–78). The Portuguese revolutionary period presents an ideal case for the exploration of intra-elite disagreements in defining foreign-policy roles; specifically, the national role conceptions that elites hold about their states’ foreign-policy behavior toward other states. This case presents an interesting puzzle to test and build on the theory's explanatory value at the domestic and individual levels of foreign-policy making: why did Kissinger's proposed role conceptions not prevail when he was one of the most significant foreign-policy entrepreneurs at the time? The analysis builds on previous theory-development efforts by considering a new institutional location for national role conceptions—the State Department—and a new type of relevant actor, the ambassador. In the process, the study makes contributions to the literature on the agency of ambassadors in foreign policy, as well as to the growing literature on domestic contestation and resolution of national role conceptions.
This chapter investigates the representation of Portuguese women through a study of executive pol... more This chapter investigates the representation of Portuguese women through a study of executive politics, the women's movement, and gender policy making in Portugal since 1986, when the country became a member of the European Union (EU). Over the past three decades, the EU has gradually become a dynamic gender-policy actor, obliging member countries to align their policies and legislation with the European acquis communautaire, the "body of common rights and obligations that is binding on all the EU member states," on gender. In Portugal, this "Europeanization" has led to the creation and institutionalization of governmental gender actors. This development, however, has been uneven. Conservative prime ministers have often adopted gender legislation in response to EU pressures, but policy implementation has sometimes not occurred until power shifted to the left. This chapter examines the interactions among the prime minister and cabinet (the center of executive power), the women's movement, and the parties to better understand why (and how) executive officials ostensibly provide women with representation, adopting policy congruent with the acquis communautaire, even as they resist implementing that same policy.
Social Movements Studies, 2016
This article examines the role of women’s mobilisations related to the 1974 Portuguese revolution... more This article examines the role of women’s mobilisations related to the 1974 Portuguese revolution. An in-depth analysis of three women’s organisations through archival research and interviews with participants highlights the ways in which they participated in a cycle of contention between 1974 and 1977. Examination of framing strategies demonstrates the effects of political and cultural context. In particular, I demonstrate that movement–party alliances informed and constrained the diagnostic and prognostic frames of women’s movements on feminism and the revolution. Opportunity structures are shown to vary for different organisations within the same cycle of contention. Facing relatively closed opportunities, two of these organisations pursued framing strategies that articulated with the Left-dominated master frame of the cycle in order to carve out spaces for gender-specific demands while rejecting the label of feminism. The third organisation, instead, presented a countercultural frame that alienated the organisation from party and movement allies. Unable to overcome ideological divisions and rivalries, the three organisations perceived each other as competitors, rather than potential allies. While party–movement cooperation contributed to the emergence of a fractionalised women’s movement, it also provided important support structures to aid women’s organisations to mobilise in a cultural and political context that was closed to feminist demands.
Journal of Women in Politics & Policy, 2017
Portugal and Spain underwent dramatic transformations between 1974 and the early 1980s, transitio... more Portugal and Spain underwent dramatic transformations between 1974 and the early 1980s, transitioning from dictatorships to democracies. In this study, I explore why Portugal was faster than Spain in adopting key gender-rights policies (for instance, divorce, equal pay, state feminism) during the period in question. Bridging insights from the democratization, social-movement, and women’s studies literatures, I argue that Portugal’s accelerated policy path on women’s rights can be explained by three complex factors: (1) the nature of the revolutionary transition, which structured options for women’s movements and for institutional actors; (2) the configuration of movement-party alliances; and (3) supranational and international pressures to re-organize the state-civil society relationship. The study contributes to the engendering of democratization processes in Iberia by paying close attention to the interconnected agency of women’s movements with other political actors at a time of regime transformation.
Comparative European Politics, 2014
In this article, we evaluate the relationship between age and three types of political participat... more In this article, we evaluate the relationship between age and three types of political participation: voting, demonstrating and signing petitions. Our comparative analysis of individual-level data from the three largest European countries – Germany, France and the United Kingdom – reveals three interesting findings. First, we find that younger generations are less likely to vote than their older counterparts. Second, our results indicate that those trends are reversed for unconventional participation. Individuals born between the late 1970s and early 1990s are significantly more likely to engage in forms of direct action, such as demonstrations and petitions. This suggests we are experiencing changing patterns of participation for young adults, rather than declining civic engagement. Third, we discover that the relationship between age and various forms of political engagement is frequently not linear. While some forms of political involvement are strongest among the elderly (i.e. voting), other types are more pronounced among individuals between the ages of 34 and 65 (i.e. signing petitions) or the young (i.e. participation in demonstrations).
Conference Presentations by Daniela Melo
The level of grassroots involvement during the Portuguese revolution – labor, urban squatters, ru... more The level of grassroots involvement during the Portuguese revolution – labor, urban squatters, rural squatters – attracted the attention of various scholars. Yet, few have sought to understand the role that women’s movements played during the process. This study entails an in-depth case study analysis of three women’s organizations in Portugal to examine how political context shapes movements’ framing strategies. I argue that movement-party alliances shaped the diagnostic and prognostic frames of women’s movements on feminism and the revolution. At the same time, these alliances were vital for women to pursue their demands in a context closed off to feminism. This case brings together contextual, ideological, and strategic variables, contributing for a deeper understanding of how political opportunity structures vary for different organizations within the same cycle of contention.
Foreign Policy Analysis, 2019
This study explores the intra-elite role contestation and resolution within the State Department ... more This study explores the intra-elite role contestation and resolution within the State Department during the Portuguese Revolution, focusing on Henry Kissinger and the US ambassadors to Portugal, Stuart Nash Scott (1973–75) and Frank Carlucci (1975–78). The Portuguese revolutionary period presents an ideal case for the exploration of intra-elite disagreements in defining foreign-policy roles; specifically, the national role conceptions that elites hold about their states’ foreign-policy behavior toward other states. This case presents an interesting puzzle to test and build on the theory's explanatory value at the domestic and individual levels of foreign-policy making: why did Kissinger's proposed role conceptions not prevail when he was one of the most significant foreign-policy entrepreneurs at the time? The analysis builds on previous theory-development efforts by considering a new institutional location for national role conceptions—the State Department—and a new type of relevant actor, the ambassador. In the process, the study makes contributions to the literature on the agency of ambassadors in foreign policy, as well as to the growing literature on domestic contestation and resolution of national role conceptions.
This chapter investigates the representation of Portuguese women through a study of executive pol... more This chapter investigates the representation of Portuguese women through a study of executive politics, the women's movement, and gender policy making in Portugal since 1986, when the country became a member of the European Union (EU). Over the past three decades, the EU has gradually become a dynamic gender-policy actor, obliging member countries to align their policies and legislation with the European acquis communautaire, the "body of common rights and obligations that is binding on all the EU member states," on gender. In Portugal, this "Europeanization" has led to the creation and institutionalization of governmental gender actors. This development, however, has been uneven. Conservative prime ministers have often adopted gender legislation in response to EU pressures, but policy implementation has sometimes not occurred until power shifted to the left. This chapter examines the interactions among the prime minister and cabinet (the center of executive power), the women's movement, and the parties to better understand why (and how) executive officials ostensibly provide women with representation, adopting policy congruent with the acquis communautaire, even as they resist implementing that same policy.
Social Movements Studies, 2016
This article examines the role of women’s mobilisations related to the 1974 Portuguese revolution... more This article examines the role of women’s mobilisations related to the 1974 Portuguese revolution. An in-depth analysis of three women’s organisations through archival research and interviews with participants highlights the ways in which they participated in a cycle of contention between 1974 and 1977. Examination of framing strategies demonstrates the effects of political and cultural context. In particular, I demonstrate that movement–party alliances informed and constrained the diagnostic and prognostic frames of women’s movements on feminism and the revolution. Opportunity structures are shown to vary for different organisations within the same cycle of contention. Facing relatively closed opportunities, two of these organisations pursued framing strategies that articulated with the Left-dominated master frame of the cycle in order to carve out spaces for gender-specific demands while rejecting the label of feminism. The third organisation, instead, presented a countercultural frame that alienated the organisation from party and movement allies. Unable to overcome ideological divisions and rivalries, the three organisations perceived each other as competitors, rather than potential allies. While party–movement cooperation contributed to the emergence of a fractionalised women’s movement, it also provided important support structures to aid women’s organisations to mobilise in a cultural and political context that was closed to feminist demands.
Journal of Women in Politics & Policy, 2017
Portugal and Spain underwent dramatic transformations between 1974 and the early 1980s, transitio... more Portugal and Spain underwent dramatic transformations between 1974 and the early 1980s, transitioning from dictatorships to democracies. In this study, I explore why Portugal was faster than Spain in adopting key gender-rights policies (for instance, divorce, equal pay, state feminism) during the period in question. Bridging insights from the democratization, social-movement, and women’s studies literatures, I argue that Portugal’s accelerated policy path on women’s rights can be explained by three complex factors: (1) the nature of the revolutionary transition, which structured options for women’s movements and for institutional actors; (2) the configuration of movement-party alliances; and (3) supranational and international pressures to re-organize the state-civil society relationship. The study contributes to the engendering of democratization processes in Iberia by paying close attention to the interconnected agency of women’s movements with other political actors at a time of regime transformation.
Comparative European Politics, 2014
In this article, we evaluate the relationship between age and three types of political participat... more In this article, we evaluate the relationship between age and three types of political participation: voting, demonstrating and signing petitions. Our comparative analysis of individual-level data from the three largest European countries – Germany, France and the United Kingdom – reveals three interesting findings. First, we find that younger generations are less likely to vote than their older counterparts. Second, our results indicate that those trends are reversed for unconventional participation. Individuals born between the late 1970s and early 1990s are significantly more likely to engage in forms of direct action, such as demonstrations and petitions. This suggests we are experiencing changing patterns of participation for young adults, rather than declining civic engagement. Third, we discover that the relationship between age and various forms of political engagement is frequently not linear. While some forms of political involvement are strongest among the elderly (i.e. voting), other types are more pronounced among individuals between the ages of 34 and 65 (i.e. signing petitions) or the young (i.e. participation in demonstrations).
The level of grassroots involvement during the Portuguese revolution – labor, urban squatters, ru... more The level of grassroots involvement during the Portuguese revolution – labor, urban squatters, rural squatters – attracted the attention of various scholars. Yet, few have sought to understand the role that women’s movements played during the process. This study entails an in-depth case study analysis of three women’s organizations in Portugal to examine how political context shapes movements’ framing strategies. I argue that movement-party alliances shaped the diagnostic and prognostic frames of women’s movements on feminism and the revolution. At the same time, these alliances were vital for women to pursue their demands in a context closed off to feminism. This case brings together contextual, ideological, and strategic variables, contributing for a deeper understanding of how political opportunity structures vary for different organizations within the same cycle of contention.