Event

• Wesley Longhofer, Emory University: Assistant Professor of Organization & Management, Associated Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Senior Faculty Fellow, Emory Center for Ethics, Teaching Faculty, Master's in Development Practice

ABSTRACT

Controversy surrounding abortion liberalization sets the issue apart from many others studied by World Polity theorists, who highlight the tendency for similar policies institutionalized at the global level to diffuse across very different countries. With respect to abortion, however, competing scripts persist at the global level, and policy diffusion is not robust. Here, we examine the diffusion of abortion liberalization policies in an event history analysis of the period 1960 to 2009. Our findings reveal that local circumstances, particularly the presence of women in parliament and the concentration of physicians, matter more for abortion liberalization than a nation's global embeddedness in world society (in the form of links to women's international nongovernmental organizations—WINGOs—and the ratification of an international women's rights convention).
 

Wesley spans the MM and OT research communities having received a PhD in Sociology from the University of Minnesota in 2011 and having successfully published in AJS and ASR  among other outlets. His research interests include organizational sociology, institutional theory, nonprofits and philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, international law, and the environment. He has published broadly on voluntary associations, environmental non-profits, and environmental policy reform. His current research includes a global study of philanthropic foundations, a comparative analysis of participation in charitable organizations, a collaborative study on the organizational dynamics of climate change, and a number of papers on child rights and environmental policies.

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