Europe and the Left

‘While much has been written about what the European left ought to do to resolve its crisis of decline, this collection takes us much further by starting from what social democratic parties have actually been doing, based on their conduct and programmes during the 2019 European parliamentary elections. This provides a crucial point of departure for future work and study.’

–Colin Crouch, Professor Emeritus, University of Warwick, UK, and External Scientific Member, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Germany

‘This thought-provoking book addresses the important issues of decline of mainstream parties of the left, and shortfalls in democratic accountability of the European Union. The nationalist/international co-operation cleavage is tending to replace the traditional right/left divide, and the book rightly advocates efforts towards democratisation of the EU as a means of promoting renewal and redefinition of social democratic parties.’

–Susan Senior Nello, Associated Professor, University of Siena, Italy

This book revolves around several questions. What do the 2019 European elections suggest about the extent to which the mainstream parties of the left are attempting to deal with their decline through an increased emphasis on a more integrated ‘social Europe’ as opposed to an emphasis on domestically-focussed issues? Given the heightened profile of Europe in domestic politics, the polarisation around Europe, and the way in which media discussion of the domestic implications of EU decision-making can influence the climate of opinion regardless of the actions of domestic party actors themselves, we would expect the social democrats among them to seek to reassert control over the conditions of opinion formation through a renewed emphasis on integration, in contrast to their populist and Eurosceptical adversaries. Finally, the book also asks how well the parties are coping with the internal and external, institutional and political obstacles in the way of pursuit of this agenda.

James L. Newell is former Professor of Politics at the University of Salford, UK. His recent books include, Silvio Berlusconi: A Study in Failure (2019); Corruption in Contemporary Politics: A New Travel Guide (2019), and Italy's Contemporary Politics (2020). He is founder and co-editor of the quarterly journal, Contemporary Italian Politics.