Culture war and international order: contestation of women’s rights and the resistance

Main Article Content

Esther Barbé
Lorena Oyarzún

Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, nº 142
Quadrimestral (January-April 2026)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2026.142.1.7


 


This paper examines how the contestation of women’s rights is intertwined with the reconfiguration of the liberal international order, and through which actors, mechanisms, arenas and scales this struggle is unfolding. Against a backdrop of rising of anti-gender agendas, the crisis of liberal multilateralism and growing political polarisation, it argues that this rollback is not an isolated conservative reaction, but rather a form of norm contestation orchestrated via a transnational culture war. Methodologically, the paper proposes a four-dimensional comparative analytical framework to interpret the dynamics of contestation and resistance in a relational manner. Its findings show that the anti-gender offensive combines politicisation, challenges to previously consolidated norms and multilevel strategies, while feminist, institutional and multilateral forms of resistance also generate multilevel responses. It concludes that women’s rights are now an exceptional barometer of the international order in transformation.


 


>> The full-text articles in this issue are currently available only in Spanis

Keywords
women’s rights, gender equality, culture war, transnational antifeminism, democratic backsliding, liberal international order

Article Details

How to Cite
Barbé, Esther; Oyarzún, Lorena. “Culture war and international order: contestation of women’s rights and the resistance”. Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, 2026, no. 142, pp. 7-29, https://raco.cat/index.php/RevistaCIDOB/article/view/980000007935.
References

Abrahamsen, Rita, Jean-François Drolet, Michael C. Williams, Srdjan Vucetic, Kanishka Narita y Alexandra Gheciu. 2024. World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ban Ki-moon. 2014. «Prólogo». En Declaración y Plataforma de Acción de Beijing. Declaración y documentos políticos de Beijing+5. ONU Mujeres. https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/csw/bpa_s_final_web.pdf?la=es&vs=755

Barbé Izuel, Esther. 2016. «Contestación normativa y Consejo de Seguridad: La agenda de mujeres, paz y seguridad o de la Resolución 1325 a la Resolución 2242». Revista Española de Derecho Internacional 68(2): 103-132.

Barbé, Esther, ed. 2021. Las normas internacionales ante la crisis del orden liberal. Madrid: Tecnos.

Barbé Izuel, Esther, y Diego Badell. 2022. «Chasing Gender Equality Norms: The Case of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights». International Relations 37(2): 274-297.

Barbé, Esther. 2025. «Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: The End of Consensus in the United Nations Security Council.» In Violence Against Women in a Fragmenting International Order, edited by Esther Barbé Izuel and Mar Martín Martínez, 23–24. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Barbé Izuel, Esther, y Magdalena María del Mar Martín Martínez, dirs. 2024. La violencia contra las mujeres en un orden internacional en transición. Aranzadi.

Barbé Izuel, Esther, y Magdalena María Martín Martínez, eds. 2025. Violence Against Women in a Fragmenting International Order. Nova Science Publishers.

Bloomfield, Alan, y Shirley V. Scott, eds. 2016. Norm Antipreneurs and the Politics of Resistance to Global Normative Change. Routledge.

Bornschier, Simon. 2010. Cleavage Politics and the Populist Right: The New Cultural Conflict in Western Europe. Temple University Press.

Cely, Tadeas. 2025. «The New Threat of Culture Wars: The Religious Roots of Public Opinion Polarization on Morality Issues in Europe». European Union Politics 26(2): 226-254. https://doi.org/10.1177/14651165251320882

Chenoweth, Erica, y Zoe Marks. 2022. «Revenge of the Patriarchs: Why Autocrats Fear Women». Foreign Affairs 101(2): 103–116. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2022-02-08/women-rights-revenge-patriarchs

Cicchetti, Franco, y Paulo Catena. 2026. «Gobierno se alinea con EE.UU. en la ONU para someter a votación resolución que restringe la definición de “género”». La Tercera, 19 de marzo de 2026. https://www.latercera.com/politica/noticia/gobierno-se-alinea-con-eeuu-en-la-onu-para-someter-a-votacion-resolucion-que-restringe-la-definicion-de-genero/

Clinton, Hillary. 2026. «Women’s Rights Are Democratic Rights: The Global Authoritarian Backlash to Gender Equality». Foreign Affairs 105(2). https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/womens-rights-are-democratic-rights-hillary-clinton

Cox, Robert W. 1981. «Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory». En Approaches to World Order, editado por Robert Cox y Timothy Sinclair, 85-112. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CPAC. 2026. «2026 CPAC Hungary on to Victory». https://www.cpachungary.com/en/

Cupać, Jelena, e Irem Ebetürk. 2022. «Competitive Mimicry: The Socialization of Antifeminist NGOs into the United Nations». Global Constitutionalism 11(3): 379-400. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045381721000186

D’Amore, Chantal, Martijn van Zomeren y Namkje Koudenburg. 2022. «Attitude Moralization Within Polarized Contexts: An Emotional Value-Protective Response to Dyadic Harm Cues». Political Psychology 43(6): 1.075-1.094. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9548660/

De Silva, Monika. 2024. «Gender Wars? Diplomacy as a Depolarizing Practice in International Politics of Gender and Sexuality». International Studies Quarterly 68(3): sqae101. https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqae101

Deitelhoff, Nicole, y Lisbeth Zimmermann. 2013. Things We Lost in the Fire: How Different Types of Contestation Affect the Validity of International Norms (PRIF Working Paper No. 18). PRIF.

Elizalde, Silvia, y Natacha Mateo. 2018. «Las jóvenes: Entre la “marea verde” y la decisión de abortar». Salud Colectiva 14(3): 433–446. https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2018.2026

Finnemore, Martha, y Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. «International Norm Dynamics and Political Change». International Organization 52(4): 887–917. https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898550789

Friedman, Elisabeth J., y Ana Laura Rodríguez. 2023. «El viento arrollador: la irrupción de las jóvenes en la protesta del Ni Una Menos de Argentina». Perfiles Latinoamericanos 31(61): 00003. https://doi.org/10.18504/pl3161-003-2023

Gamboa, Laura. 2022. Resisting Backsliding: Opposition Strategies Against the Erosion of Democracy. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009164085

Garcés, Blanca. 2025. «La politización de la migración: Polarización y erosión democrática». Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals 140: 13–32.

Gidron, Noam, James Adams y Will Horne. 2020. American Affective Polarization in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press.

Haggard, Stephan, y Robert Kaufman. 2021. Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108957809

Han, K. J. (2024). Issue salience and affective polarization. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 34(4), 770–788. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2023.2277429

Harteveld, Eelco. 2021. «Fragmented Foes: Affective Polarization in the Multiparty Context of the Netherlands». Electoral Studies 69: 102199.

Heiss Bendersky, Claudia. 2025. De las transiciones democráticas al autoritarismo: el impacto en los derechos de género en América Latina. https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/208246

Hooghe, Liesbet, y Gary Marks. 2017. «Cleavage Theory Meets Europe’s Crises: Lipset, Rokkan, and the Transnational Cleavage». Journal of European Public Policy 25(1): 109-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1310279

Hunter, James Davison. 1991. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. Basic Books.

Juan-Torres González, Miquel. 2025. “There Is a Term for Trump’s Political Style: Authoritarian Populism.” Othering & Belonging Institute, January 1. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/berkeley-news-theres-term-trumps-political-style-authoritarian-populism

Kekkonen, Arto, Daniel Kawecki y Staffan Himmelroos. 2024. «Friends and Foes: Affective Polarization among Finnish Voters». En Political Behaviour in Contemporary Finland: Studies of Voting and Campaigning in a Candidate-Oriented Political System, editado por Åsa von Schoultz y Kim Strandberg, 137–156. Routledge.

Kovàts, Eszter, ed. 2023. Culture Wars in Europe. The George Washington University. https://doi.org/10.53483/MOLD8941

Kovàts, Eszter, y Elena Zacharenko. 2021. «The Right-Wing Opposition to “Gender” in the Light of the Ambiguity of the Meaning of the Term in EU Documents». Politické Vedy 24(4): 56–82. https://doi.org/10.24040/politickevedy.2021.24.4.56-82

Kuhar, Roman, y David Paternotte, eds. 2017. Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing against Equality. Londres y Nueva York: Rowman & Littlefield International.

Lake, David A., y Antje Wiener. 2026. «Deep Contestations of the Liberal International Order.» IEn Deep Contestations of the Liberal International Order, edited by Antje Wiener, David A. Lake, and Thomas Risse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lantis, Jeffrey, y Carmen Wunderlich. 2018. «Resiliency Dynamics of Norm Clusters: Norm Contestation and International Cooperation». Review of International Studies 44: 570-593.

Levitsky, Steven, y Daniel Ziblatt. 2018. How Democracies Die. Nueva York: Crown.

Mora Rodríguez, Alberto, José Miguel Rojo Martínez y Alejandro Soler Contreras. 2025. «Batallas culturales, posicionamientos GAL/TAN y polarización afectiva en España». Revista Centra de Ciencias Sociales 4(1): 199–224. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.119

Naciones Unidas. 2025. Informe del secretario general sobre el examen y evaluación de la aplicación de la Declaración y Plataforma de Acción de Beijing y de los resultados del vigésimo tercer período extraordinario de sesiones de la Asamblea General (E/CN.6/2025/3/Rev.1). https://docs.un.org/es/E/CN.6/2025/3/Rev.1

Norris, Pippa, y Ronald Inglehart. 2019. Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108595841

ONU Mujeres. 2025. Los derechos de las mujeres 30 años después de Beijing. Nueva York: ONU Mujeres. https://www.unwomen.org/es/digital-library/publications/2025/03/los-derechos-de-las-mujeres-30-anos-despues-de-beijing

Orbán, Viktor. 2022. «Intervención frente a la CPAC». Visegrad Post, 19 de mayo de 2022.

Otto, Dianne. 2019. «Gender, Violence and Human Rights». En Handbook on Gender and Violence, editado por Laura J. Shepherd. Edward Elgar.

Oyarzún Serrano, Lorena. 2000. «Aborto en Chile. Nuestra oculta realidad». En Sin Censura, editado por Fabián Llanca et al., 25-82. LOM Ediciones.

Parlamento Europeo. 2025. «El PE insta a la UE a defender los derechos de las mujeres ante el retroceso global». https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/es/press-room/20241212IPR25965/el-pe-insta-a-la-ue-a-defender-derechos-de-las-mujeres-ante-el-retroceso-global

Priest, Robert. 2025. «Culture War: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis?». History Workshop Journal 100(1): 101-121.

Rubio, Marco. 2026. «Withdrawal from Wasteful, Ineffective or Harmful International Organizations». U.S. Department of State, 7 de enero de 2026. https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/01/withdrawal-from-wasteful-ineffective-or-harmful-international-organizations

Sanahuja, José Antonio, y Camilo López Burian. 2023. «Las “nuevas derechas” y la ultraderecha neopatriota: Conceptos, teoría y debates en el cruce de ideología y globalización». En Extremas derechas y democracia: Perspectivas iberoamericanas, editado por José Antonio Sanahuja Perales y Pablo Stefanoni, 13–36. Fundación Carolina.

Sánchez Capdequí, Celso, y Pablo Echevarría Esparza. 2025. «Las guerras culturales en Europa: Francia, Reino Unido y Alemania». En Las guerras culturales globales, editado por Maya Aguiluz Ibargüen y Celso Sánchez Capdequí, 11–36. Madrid: Los Libros de la Catarata.

Sanders, Rebecca. 2018. «Norm Spoiling: Undermining the International Women’s Rights Agenda». International Affairs 94(2): 271–291.

The White House. 2025. National Security Strategy of the United States of America. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

Ünal, Didem. 2024. «The Variety of Anti-Gender Alliances and Democratic Backsliding in Turkey: Fault Lines around Opposition to “Gender Ideology” and Their Political Implications». International Feminist Journal of Politics 26(1): 6–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2023.2299701

UNFPA- United Nations Population Fund. 2026. Matrimonio infantil. https://www.unfpa.org/es/matrimonio-infantil

United Nations. 1993. Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (A/CONF.157/23). https://undocs.org/A/CONF.157/23

United Nations. 1995. Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing (A/CONF.177/20/Rev.1). https://undocs.org/A/CONF.177/20/Rev.1

Wiener, Antje. 2014. A Theory of Contestation. Springer.

Wiener, Antje, David A. Lake, and Thomas Risse, eds. 2026. Deep Contestations of the Liberal International Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zürn, Michael. 2014. «The Politicization of World Politics and Its Effects: Eight Propositions». European Political Science Review 6(1): 47-71. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773912000276

Zwingel, Susanne. 2020. «Gender Equality Norms in International Governance: Actors, Contexts, Meanings.» En Rethinking Gender Equality in Global Governance: The Delusion of Norm Diffusion, edited by Lars Engberg-Pedersen et al. Cham: Palgrave.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >> 

Similar Articles

<< < 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.