The Illusion of Inclusion: Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing

The study finds that while inclusive power-sharing arrangements positively affect the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments, they do not statistically increase women's empowerment in civil society, including their political participation, civil liberties, and civil society engagement. Using a country-year fixed effects model for 180 countries, the author argues that such institutions often provide an 'illusion of inclusion' by focusing on elite-level representation while failing to address grassroots gender inequalities.

• Inclusive power-sharing arrangements have a statistically significant positive effect on the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments.
• There is no statistical evidence that inclusive power-sharing arrangements increase women's empowerment in civil society, specifically regarding political participation, civil liberties, or civil society engagement.
• High levels of battle-related deaths and civil conflict are associated with lower levels of female inclusion and women's empowerment.
• The implementation of inclusive power-sharing after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 did not show a statistically significant additional effect on women's inclusion.
• Economic factors, specifically GDP per capita and petroleum production per capita, did not show a statistically significant relationship with female inclusion or women's empowerment in the fixed effects models.
• The author argues that power-sharing models often prioritize ethno-national identities, which can lead to the 'exclusion amid inclusion' dilemma where women and other non-elite groups are marginalized.

APA

Azba, N. (2021). The Illusion of Inclusion: Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/c7b34695-362f-46a9-947a-56be63d1a13f/The Illusion of Inclusion Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Azba, Natalie. The Illusion of Inclusion: Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2021. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/c7b34695-362f-46a9-947a-56be63d1a13f/The Illusion of Inclusion Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Azba |first1=Natalie |title=The Illusion of Inclusion: Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=June 2021 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/c7b34695-362f-46a9-947a-56be63d1a13f/The Illusion of Inclusion Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{azba2021illusion, author = {Azba, Natalie}, title = {{The Illusion of Inclusion: Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/c7b34695-362f-46a9-947a-56be63d1a13f/The Illusion of Inclusion Assessing the Effects and Gendered Implications of Power Sharing.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }