Giulia’s current research interests are public policies regulating Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights. In her doctoral thesis, she has focused on same-sex marriage in the US states to study morality policy adoption and implementation, as well as to analyze processes of institutional change.
This dissertation employs a multi-method research design to analyze the political and discursive ... more This dissertation employs a multi-method research design to analyze the political and discursive opportunities for gradual institutional change in the case of marriage equality in the American states. It comprises three different, but interrelated research papers. The first article studies how party competition across different religious contexts shapes the political opportunities enabling institutional reform. It finds that party control of the state government determines policy output only in those states that are religiously more diverse. The second and third papers examine actors’ oppositional dynamics, with a special focus on how political and discursive resources enable or hinder institutional reform, respectively. The former identifies the conditions under which attempts at policy change succeed or fail and finds that morality policies are not foreign to compromise. The latter shows that actors’ discursive frames deployed at multiple political venues function as a mechanism o...
By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, thi... more By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, this article identifies the combinations of conditions under which attempts at institutional displacement succeed or fail. Hitherto, few scholarly works have empirically examined displacement and whether, and how, actors can preserve institutional stability in the face of organized efforts to change institutions. Taking causal complexity into account, the analytical model factors in the resources of both change and status quo actors as well as the political context that enables or constrains their strategies. The results of the comparative analysis show that states have followed different paths to the displacement of heterosexual marriage in favor of marriage equality. Yet, most crucially, the findings pinpoint that the inclusion of religious exemption clauses is a condition sine qua non for marriage equality laws to be effectively passed, thus challenging the widely accepted notion that mo...
Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dyn... more Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dynamics of gradual institutional change. Specifically, using marriage equality in the United States as a case study, we examine how actors’ ideational work enabled them to make use of the political and discursive opportunities afforded by multiple venues to legitimize the process of institutional change to take off sequentially through layering, displacement, and conversion. We also pay special attention to how the discursive strategies deployed by LGBT advocates, religious-conservative organizations and other private actors created new opportunities to influence policy debates and tip the scales to their preferred policy outcome. The sequential perspective adopted in this study allows problematizing traditional conceptualizations of which actors support or contest the status quo, as enduring oppositional dynamics lead them to perform both roles in subsequent phases of the institutional ch...
Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dyn... more Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dynamics of gradual institutional change. Specifically, using marriage equality in the United States as a case study, we examine how actors' ideational work enabled them to make use of the political and discursive opportunities afforded by multiple venues to legitimize the process of institutional change to take off sequentially through layering, displacement, and conversion. We also pay special attention to how the discursive strategies deployed by LGBT advocates, religious-conservative organizations and other private actors created new opportunities to influence policy debates and tip the scales to their preferred policy outcome. The sequential perspective adopted in this study allows problematizing traditional conceptualizations of which actors support or contest the status quo, as enduring oppositional dynamics lead them to perform both roles in subsequent phases of the institutional change process.
By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, thi... more By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, this article identifies the combinations of conditions under which attempts at institutional displacement succeed or fail. Hitherto, few scholarly works have empirically examined displacement and whether, and how, actors can preserve institutional stability in the face of organized efforts to change institutions. Taking causal complexity into account, the analytical model factors in the resources of both change and status quo actors as well as the political context that enables or constrains their strategies. The results of the comparative analysis show that states have followed different paths to the displacement of heterosexual marriage in favor of marriage equality. Yet, most crucially, the findings pinpoint that the inclusion of religious exemption clauses is a condition sine qua non for marriage equality laws to be effectively passed, thus challenging the widely accepted notion that morality policies are foreign to compromise.
Despite the burgeoning literature on morality policies in the US, the conditions under which legi... more Despite the burgeoning literature on morality policies in the US, the conditions under which legislation in favor of same-sex marriage has been adopted remain largely unexplored. This study examines the enactment of marriage equality laws in the US states from 2004 to 2014, by focusing on the interplay between religious diversity and party control of the state government. I argue that incorporating the religious composition of each state allows to better understand the crucial role that political parties play in the policy-making process. The results of the discrete-time Event History Analysis show that party control of the state government is an important factor determining policy output only in those states that are religiously more diverse. Conversely, in religiously homogeneous states, the effect of Democratic versus Republican and divided governments is not significant.
This dissertation employs a multi-method research design to analyze the political and discursive ... more This dissertation employs a multi-method research design to analyze the political and discursive opportunities for gradual institutional change in the case of marriage equality in the American states. It comprises three different, but interrelated research papers. The first article studies how party competition across different religious contexts shapes the political opportunities enabling institutional reform. It finds that party control of the state government determines policy output only in those states that are religiously more diverse. The second and third papers examine actors’ oppositional dynamics, with a special focus on how political and discursive resources enable or hinder institutional reform, respectively. The former identifies the conditions under which attempts at policy change succeed or fail and finds that morality policies are not foreign to compromise. The latter shows that actors’ discursive frames deployed at multiple political venues function as a mechanism o...
By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, thi... more By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, this article identifies the combinations of conditions under which attempts at institutional displacement succeed or fail. Hitherto, few scholarly works have empirically examined displacement and whether, and how, actors can preserve institutional stability in the face of organized efforts to change institutions. Taking causal complexity into account, the analytical model factors in the resources of both change and status quo actors as well as the political context that enables or constrains their strategies. The results of the comparative analysis show that states have followed different paths to the displacement of heterosexual marriage in favor of marriage equality. Yet, most crucially, the findings pinpoint that the inclusion of religious exemption clauses is a condition sine qua non for marriage equality laws to be effectively passed, thus challenging the widely accepted notion that mo...
Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dyn... more Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dynamics of gradual institutional change. Specifically, using marriage equality in the United States as a case study, we examine how actors’ ideational work enabled them to make use of the political and discursive opportunities afforded by multiple venues to legitimize the process of institutional change to take off sequentially through layering, displacement, and conversion. We also pay special attention to how the discursive strategies deployed by LGBT advocates, religious-conservative organizations and other private actors created new opportunities to influence policy debates and tip the scales to their preferred policy outcome. The sequential perspective adopted in this study allows problematizing traditional conceptualizations of which actors support or contest the status quo, as enduring oppositional dynamics lead them to perform both roles in subsequent phases of the institutional ch...
Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dyn... more Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dynamics of gradual institutional change. Specifically, using marriage equality in the United States as a case study, we examine how actors' ideational work enabled them to make use of the political and discursive opportunities afforded by multiple venues to legitimize the process of institutional change to take off sequentially through layering, displacement, and conversion. We also pay special attention to how the discursive strategies deployed by LGBT advocates, religious-conservative organizations and other private actors created new opportunities to influence policy debates and tip the scales to their preferred policy outcome. The sequential perspective adopted in this study allows problematizing traditional conceptualizations of which actors support or contest the status quo, as enduring oppositional dynamics lead them to perform both roles in subsequent phases of the institutional change process.
By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, thi... more By focusing on the legislative process underpinning marriage equality in the American states, this article identifies the combinations of conditions under which attempts at institutional displacement succeed or fail. Hitherto, few scholarly works have empirically examined displacement and whether, and how, actors can preserve institutional stability in the face of organized efforts to change institutions. Taking causal complexity into account, the analytical model factors in the resources of both change and status quo actors as well as the political context that enables or constrains their strategies. The results of the comparative analysis show that states have followed different paths to the displacement of heterosexual marriage in favor of marriage equality. Yet, most crucially, the findings pinpoint that the inclusion of religious exemption clauses is a condition sine qua non for marriage equality laws to be effectively passed, thus challenging the widely accepted notion that morality policies are foreign to compromise.
Despite the burgeoning literature on morality policies in the US, the conditions under which legi... more Despite the burgeoning literature on morality policies in the US, the conditions under which legislation in favor of same-sex marriage has been adopted remain largely unexplored. This study examines the enactment of marriage equality laws in the US states from 2004 to 2014, by focusing on the interplay between religious diversity and party control of the state government. I argue that incorporating the religious composition of each state allows to better understand the crucial role that political parties play in the policy-making process. The results of the discrete-time Event History Analysis show that party control of the state government is an important factor determining policy output only in those states that are religiously more diverse. Conversely, in religiously homogeneous states, the effect of Democratic versus Republican and divided governments is not significant.
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History Analysis show that party control of the state government is an important factor determining policy output only in those states that are religiously more diverse. Conversely, in religiously homogeneous states, the effect of Democratic versus Republican and divided governments is not significant.
History Analysis show that party control of the state government is an important factor determining policy output only in those states that are religiously more diverse. Conversely, in religiously homogeneous states, the effect of Democratic versus Republican and divided governments is not significant.