ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a critical perspective on today’s diverse processes of rebordering within Europe, with a specific focus on the unfulfilled goal of full and gender-fair political citizenship. A West-centric skew has permeated feminist knowledge production within a geopolitical space in which Central and Eastern Europe has been transformed from the Second World to the second Other of Europe. Political citizenship, or equal representation of citizens in elected decision-making bodies, is a central pillar of modern democracy. The point of departure in the quota debate is the social composition of elected assemblies, i.e., the descriptive representation. The Communist parties mobilized separate women’s organizations, which in some countries, for instance in the German Democratic Republic, were guaranteed a certain number of seats alongside trade unions and youth organizations. The political parties were asked about their general positions on the importance of gender in candidate selection.
