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While significant attention has been put to the factors which influence both the adoption of electoral quotas and the effectiveness of quota reform processes, we still know very little about the potentially distinct characteristics of women elected with and without positive action measures. In addition, the predictions put forward by opponents to quotas affecting candidate selection processes and candidates' profiles have barely been tested. This paper will examine the Catalan parliament in the period 1980-2010 in order to explore quotas' effects on recruitment processes and to examine women's profiles prior and after quota adoption. When analyzing candidate selection processes, predictions on the formation of a glass ceiling for women and the insufficient number of women willing to become candidates are tested. The study of women's profiles evaluates whether predictions on inferior qualification and tokenism by 'quota women' are confirmed by empirical evidence. Adapted from the source document.

This article explores the hitherto underresearched relationship between state architecture and women's political representation, specifically their descriptive or numerical presence. Using a qualitative comparative case study of gender quota reforms in Spain and Britain, we ask how party organizational dynamics mediate the relationship between formal institutions and representative outcomes in recently decentralized countries. We find that the impact of political decentralization on quota adoption and implementation is contingent upon a number of variables related to the party organization, particularly the internal distribution of authority between the central and the regional branches. We conclude that political parties need to be considered as complex and independent actors in analyses of the relationship between state architecture and women's politics. Adapted from the source document.

This article provides a dynamic framework through which factionalism can be examined and the circumstances of individual parties compared in multi-level contexts. We discuss the interaction between factionalism and party structure by setting out a model of factional organization dependent on the tolerance of host parties to dissent and their degree of vertical integration, their combination yielding four possible strategies for opposition factions: centralized, inter-layered, multi-layered and decentralized. We also consider what implications there are for the party's dominant coalition in episodes of high factionalism. These act as a catalyst for the modification of party rules that regulate dissent and vertical distribution of power. The hypotheses developed are tested on four Spanish political parties that differ on the autonomy of regional branches and factions, the competitive position in the party system and factionalism type -- more policy or more patronage-oriented. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]

The introduction of quotas can help women overcome certain obstacles to political office that thwart an egalitarian representation. Various countries have recently adopted quota laws in order to grant a gender-balanced composition of political office. However, the effectiveness of quota laws is constrained by several discriminatory manoeuvres that parties use to circumvent the law. This article aims at unveiling the broad array of strategic discrimination practices that parties apply, irrespective of their ideology and the electoral system in use. These practices seriously diminish the equalising potential of positive action measures. The empirical analysis concentrates on France and Spain, two countries where a statutory quota has been recently introduced and already tested on various elections. Adapted from the source document.

Izquierda Unida/United Left (IU) has recently moved from its traditional opposition role to a new governing status. Despite lacking governing experience, having a non-pivotal and non-central ideological position, and displaying high degrees of factionalism, IU managed to establish itself as a governing partner for an array of very different parties. This article examines how the opportunities offered by multi-level institutional systems (such as the Spanish state) allow the leaderships of small, radical and divided parties to overcome their governing inexperience, diversify party goals, counteract factionalism and develop a hinge-party profile. Adapted from the source document.