Abstract

LISI, Marco. Moderate, pragmatic and personalised: the development of left-wing parties in Southern Europe. Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas [online]. 2010, n.64, pp.59-80. ISSN 0873-6529.

This article seeks to examine the development of the main left-wing government parties in Southern Europe. In spite of the different party systems, these parties have had to adapt to the challenges of transforming their support bases and to electoral competition. To analyse the different histories of the governing left in Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal, three dimensions are taken into account: the ideological development, the characteristics of the electoral bases and, finally, the organisational aspect. This analysis allows us to show the process of convergence among these parties and the importance of the past as a conditioning factor in these parties’ success or failure.

Keywords : socialist parties; the left; social democracy; Southern Europe.

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