Zippin’ up my boots, goin’ back to my roots: Radical left parties in Southern Europe

Tsakatika, M. and Lisi, M. (2013) Zippin’ up my boots, goin’ back to my roots: Radical left parties in Southern Europe. South European Society and Politics, 18(1), pp. 1-19. (doi: 10.1080/13608746.2012.758447)

Abstract

Radical left parties actively encourage the participation of their members in internal decision-making and insist on promoting organised links to trade unions and social movements. As a party family, they deviate from what is considered to be the trend in which Western political parties have turned their backs on their social roots. Drawing on the experience of South European radical left parties from the fall of the Berlin Wall until the recent financial crisis, we argue that ideology, electoral incentives, party competition and external events explain the radical left's pronounced emphasis on linkage, while organisational trajectory explains variation within the party family in terms of the linkage strategies pursued.

• Item Type: Articles (Editorial)
• Additional Information: Special issue of 'South European Society and Politics': Transformation of the Radical Left in Southern Europe: Bringing Society Back In? (M. Tsakatika and M. Lisi (eds.))
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Tsakatika, Professor Myrto
• Authors: Tsakatika, M., and Lisi, M.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: South European Society and Politics
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 1360-8746
• ISSN (Online): 1743-9612
• Published Online: 21 February 2013
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 Taylor and Francis
• First Published: First published in South European Society and Politics 18(1):1-19
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher