Edited Volumes & Special Issues

2027

Special Issue: Advancing the Study of Gender and Political Leadership: Context-Sensitive and Intersectional Approaches
European Journal of Politics and Gender (10:3)
Co-editors: Josefina Erikson and Henriette Müller

2026

Special Issue: From the Far-Right to the Far-Left: Women Populist Leaders in Comparative Perspective
Politics and Governance (Vol. 14)
Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Pamela Pansardi

Table of Contents:

Neither Exceptional nor Moderate: Rethinking Women Populist Leaders
By Henriette Müller and Pamela Pansardi

Female Leaders and the Populist Radical Right in the Nordic Countries
By Susi Meret, Liv Sunnercrantz and Ann-Cathrine Jungar

Women Populist MPs, Patriarchal Bargains, and Anti‐Gender Politics: Agnė Širinskienė and Marjorie Taylor Greene
By Ausra Park and Dovilė Budrytė

Profiling Far‐Right Populist Women Leaders: A Trait Analysis of Le Pen, Meloni, and Weidel
By Henriette Müller and Klara-Josefin Ehrnst

Female Leadership, Gender Neutralization, and the Populist Radical Right: The Case of Giorgia Meloni
By Elisabetta De Giorgi and Mattia Zulianello

Visual Self-Presentation of Radical Right Leaders on Social Media: Platform and Gender Differences
By Ofra Klein

"We Are Not as They Portray Us”: Women Populist Leaders’ Re‐Presentations of Racism‐Related Scandals
By Katarina Pettersson, Jennifer De Paola and Gilda Sensales

Skirmishing Femininity: Female Populist Skirmishers and the Gendered Politics of Illiberalism in Hungary and Poland
By Karolina Zbytniewska and Andrea Pető

Populist Radical Right Women Leaders and the Framing of LGBTQI+ Issues: Le Pen, Meloni, and Weidel
By Margherita Bordignon and Pamela Pansardi

Women’s Leadership and the Expansion of Populist Radical Right Party Agendas
By Rossella Merullo and Ana Catalano Weeks

Populist Parties, Female Populist Leaders, and the Gendered Vote in Germany
By Teresa Haußmann, Aiko Wagner and Jan Philipp Thomeczek

2025, Oxford University Press

Edited Volume: The European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen: Gender, Leadership, Policies, and Crises
Co-editors: Gabriele Abels, Johanna Kantola, Emanuela Lombardo, and Henriette Müller

Introduction: The European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen-A Critical Actorness Approach
Gabriele Abels; Johanna Kantola; Emanuela Lombardo; Henriette Müller

Table of Contents

Part I Conceptual and Biographical Approaches to ''A Union of Equality''
1: A ''Union of Equality'': A New Doctrine for the European Union
Agnès Hubert; Sophie Jacquot
2: Words and Deeds?: The von der Leyen Commission's Defense of Equality in Times of Anti-Gender Opposition
Emanuela Lombardo; Lucrecia Rubio Grundell
3: ''Through the Side Door'': Ursula von der Leyen's Unconventional Path to Power
Joyce Marie Mushaben

Part II The von der Leyen Commission: Gender, Structure, and Leadership
4: Political Leadership, (Gender) Equality, and Crises: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Agenda-Setting
Henriette Müller
5: The Long (and Still Incomplete) March to Gender Parity: von der Leyen I in Historical Perspective
Sara Connolly; Hussein Kassim; Josefine Lynggaard; Andrew Thompson; Pierre Alayrac
6:Von der Leyen's Gender-Balanced Team: A New Way of Operating in the College of Commissioners?
John A. Scherpereel; Michel Mitri; Alida Schreuders
7: Gendering the Interinstitutional Landscape: Relations of the von der Leyen Commission to the European Parliament and the Council
Gabriele Abels;Johanna Kantola

Part III Policies and Politics under the Equality Lens: The Six Priorities of the von der Leyen Commission
8: The European Green Deal Through an Equalities Lens: A Missed Opportunity?
Gill Allwood; Annica Kronsell
9: An Economy that Works for the People: Social and Economic Policy
Paul Copeland; Anna Elomäki
10: A Europe Fit for the Digital Age: Combating Online Violence Against Women
Olga Jurasz
11: Toward a More Gender-Equal EU Migration Policy?: Gender and Sexuality in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum
Amandine Le Bellec; Jane Freedman
12: A Stronger Europe in the World: Is von der Leyen's ''Geopolitical Turn'' Fostering or Hindering Gender Justice?
Hanna L. Mühlenhoff; Toni Haastrup; Roberta Guerrina
13: The Citizenwashing of von der Leyen's ''New Push for European Democracy'': The Conference on the Future of Europe and the Commission's European Citizens' Panels
Alvaro Oleart

Part IV Crises and Responses: The Commission in Turbulent Times
14: Gendering the EU's COVID-19 Pandemic Response: The Recovery and Resilience Facility
Muireann O'Dwyer; Stefanie Wöhl
15: The Commission as a Critical Actor for Strengthening Supranational Rule of Law Enforcement?: The Mixed Record of the von der Leyen Commission
Lisa H. Anders; Sonja Priebus
16: EU Values in Gendered Violence Legislation: The Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence,
Valentine Berthet; Lise Rolandsen Agustín
17: Facing Unprecedented Challenges: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Russia's War in Ukraine
Ingeborg Tömmel
18: ''Free to Be Yourself in the EU'': The von der Leyen Commission and LGBTIQ Equality in the Eastern Partnership Countries
Maryna Shevtsova

Part V Looking Ahead: Toward A ''Union of Equality''?
Conclusions: Political Leadership and the Differential von der Leyen Effect in European Policy-Making
Henriette Müller; Michael W. Bauer

2023

Credit: Politics and Governance

Special Issue: Women Opposition Leaders: Pathways, Patterns and Performance
Politics and Governance (11:1)
Co-editors: Sarah C. Dingler, Ludger Helms and Henriette Müller

Contributions to the Special Issue:

Women Opposition Leaders: Conceptual Issues and Empirical Agendas
Sarah C. Dingler, Ludger Helms and Henriette Müller

Parliamentary Women Opposition Leaders: A Comparative Assessment Across 28 OECD Countries
Sarah C. Dingler and Ludger Helms

Gender and Strategic Opposition Behavior: Patterns of Parliamentary Oversight in Belgium
Benjamin de Vet and Robin Devroe

From Opposition Leader to Prime Minister: Giorgia Meloni and Women’s Issues in the Italian Radical Right
Elisabetta De Giorgi, Alice Cavalieri and Francesca Feo

The “Accidental Candidate” Versus Europe’s Longest Dictator: Belarus’s Unfinished Revolution for Women
Farida Jalalzai and Steve Jurek

Gender and Opposition Leadership in the Pacific Islands
Kerryn Baker and Jack Corbett

Political Pathways and Performance of Women Opposition Leaders in Indonesia and South Korea
Nankyung Choi

The Instrumentalization of Women Opposition Leaders for Authoritarian Regime Entrenchment: The Case of Uganda
Aili Mari Tripp

Women Leading the Opposition: Gender and Rhetoric in the European Parliament
Henriette Müller and Pamela Pansardi

2022

Edited Volume: Women and Leadership in the European Union
Oxford University Press
Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel

Here you will find the latest review of our book by Petra Ahrens in Gender (2023, 15(2), pp. 148-150):

“Der Band ist kohärent aufgebaut und die einzelnen Kapitel sind theoretisch wie empirisch aufeinander bezogen. Dies liegt nicht zuletzt an der innovativen Theoreti- sierung und Konzeptualisierung eines ‚positional and behavioral leadership‘ durch die beiden Herausgeberinnen im Einführungskapitel, das sämtliche Kapitel strukturiert.” (Ahrens 2023: 148)

Table of Contents
Introduction: The State of Women's Leadership in the European Union
Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel

Part I: Conceptual Approaches to Women and Leadership in the EU
1. Women and Leadership in the European Union: A Framework for Analysis
Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel
2. Searching for Agency: Gendering Leadership in European Integration Theory
Gabriele Abels and Heather MacRae

Part II: Accessing Positional Leadership in EU Institutions
3. Women's Positional Leadership in the European Commission: When, Where, and How?
Miriam Hartlapp and Agnes Blome
4. Women's Leadership in the European Parliament: A Long-Term Perspective
Sarah C. Dingler and Jessica Fortin-Rittberger

Part III: Exercising Political Leadership
5. Women and Leadership across the EU Institutions: The Case of Viviane Reding
Michelle Cini
6. Women on Mars: The Two Post-Lisbon High Representatives and EU Foreign Policy on Libya
Maria Giulia Amadio Viceré and Giulia Tercovich
7. Rhetoric and Leadership: A Comparison of Female Vice-Presidents of the European Commission (1999-2019)
Henriette Müller and Pamela Pansardi
8. Gendered Leadership in the European Parliament's Political Groups
Johanna Kantola and Cherry Miller

Part IV: National Leaders in European Arenas
9. Becoming Prime Minister: Women and Executive Power in EU Member States
Karen Beckwith
10. Winning by Spending Leadership Capital? Angela Merkel's Approach to the Refugee and COVID-19 Crises
Femke A. W. J. van Esch and Christoph Erasmy
11. Theresa May's Leadership in Brexit Negotiations: Self-Representation and Media Evaluations
Sandra Eckert and Charlotte Galpin

Part V: Exercising Administrative Leadership
12. A Tightrope Walk? Catherine Day and the Interplay of Political and Administrative Leadership in the European Commission
Ingeborg Tömmel
13. Women EU Multilevel Administration: The Europeanization of Member State Bureaucracies
Eva G. Heidbreder

Part VI: Exercising Expert Leadership
14. The Court of Justice of the European Union, Gender, and Leadership
Jessica Guth
15. Women's Leadership in the European Central Bank
Amy Verdun

Part VII: Looking Ahead: The Future of Women's Leadership in the EU
16. Strategic Leadership: Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission
Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel

Appendix: Women and Leadership in the European Union

Credit: OUP

2020

Special Issue: The Role of Leadership in EU Politics and Policy Making
West European Politics (43:5)
Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Femke van Esch

Contributions to the Special Issue:

The Contested Nature of Political Leadership in the European Union: Conceptual and Methodological Cross-Fertilisation
Müller, Henriette, and Femke van Esch, pp. 1051-1071.

The Myth of German Hegemony in the Euro Area Revisited
Schild, Joachim, pp. 1072-1094.

Tracing Leadership: The ECB’s ‚Whatever It Takes‘ and Germany in the Ukraine Crisis
Schoeller, Magnus, pp. 1095-1116.

Collaborative Leadership in EMU Governance: A Matter of Cognitive Proximity
Müller, Henriette, and Femke A.W.J. van Esch, pp. 1117-1140.

Political Leadership in Times of Crisis: The Commission Presidency of Jean-Claude Juncker
Tömmel, Ingeborg, pp. 1141-1162.

Beliefs of Political Leaders: Conditions for Change in the Eurozone Crisis
Swinkels, Marij, pp. 1163-1186.

Credit: WEP

Edited Volumes & Special Issues

Special Issue: Advancing the Study of Gender and Political Leadership: Context-Sensitive and Intersectional Approaches European Journal of Politics and Gender (10:3)Co-editors: Josefina Erikson and Henriette Müller

Special Issue: From the Far-Right to the Far-Left: Women Populist Leaders in Comparative PerspectivePolitics and Governance (Vol. 14)Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Pamela Pansardi

Edited Volume: The European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen: Gender, Leadership, Policies, and CrisesCo-editors: Gabriele Abels, Johanna Kantola, Emanuela Lombardo, and Henriette Müller

Special Issue: Women Opposition Leaders: Pathways, Patterns and PerformancePolitics and Governance (11:1) Co-editors: Sarah C. Dingler, Ludger Helms and Henriette Müller

Edited Volume: Women and Leadership in the European UnionOxford University Press Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel