The 1990s are proving to be a time, quite literally, of shifting territories in Europe - East and West. Both the revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989 and the breaking of economic boundaries in 1992 are creating a new Europe; a Europe in which old questions have to be re-asked and old assumptions revaluated. This Feminist Review special issue, Shifting Territories explores these political changes in all their complexity, and in particular looks at how these changes will affect women and feminism. Feminist Review employs its unique perspective to ask such pertinent questions as: how can we make sense of these major transformations? How should we respond to them? What part should feminists play in the new world order? Is it so 'new'? With articles covering the relationship between nationalism and feminism, the women's movement in Eastern Europe, feminism and the crisis of socialism, this Feminist Review special issue explores these shifting territories and tries to make sense of the reverberations affecting all our lives.