The European Radical Left: Movements And Parties Since The 1960s

Description

A historical analysis of radical left parties and movements in Europe spanning the late 1960s to the anti-austerity movements of the late 2000s. Is today's left really new? How has the European radical left evolved? Giorgos Charalambous answers these questions by looking at three moments of rapid political change - the late 1960s to late 1970s; the turn of the millennium; and post-2008. He challenges the conventional understanding of a 'new left', drawing out continuities with earlier movements and parties. Charalambous examines the 'Long '68', symbolised by the May uprisings in France, which saw the rise of new left forces and the widespread criticism by younger radical activists of traditional communist and socialist parties. He puts this side by side with the turn of the millennium when the Global Justice Movement rose to prominence and changed the face of the international left, and also the period after the financial crash of 2008 and the rise of anti-austerity politics which initiated the most recent wave of new left parties such as Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece. With a unique 'two-level' perspective, Charalambous approaches the left through both social movements and party politics, looking at identities, rhetoric and organisation, and bringing a fresh new approach to radical history, as well as assessing challenges for both activists and scholars. Cover Half Title Review Title Copyright Dedication Contents Tables Figures Abbreviations Preface Part I: Mobilisation, Resistance and the European Radical Left 1. Introducing the Approach 2. Analytical Framework Part II: ‘Newness’ across Movement Waves and through Time 3. Social Movement Identities and Left Radicalism 4. Patterns in Social Movement Rhetoric 5. Organising in (Every Subsequent) Movement Part III: Past and Present of European Radical Left Parties 6. Radical Left Party Identities in Motion 7. Continuities and Changes in Radical Left Party Rhetoric 8. Party Organisation on the European Radical Left 9. Conclusions: A Unified Retrospective Appendix 1: Historical Context and the Three ‘New Lefts’ Appendix 2: Electoral Slogans of RLPs in Seven Countries (1960s-2010s) Notes Index