The New Left in the European Democracies: The Case of the German Radical Left


Abstract


The new form of the social and political conflict cannot be explained by the traditional categories of right and left, but it articulates to them on two plans, that of the establishment, intended like plan of the structured political conflict from the traditional actors, and that of the anti-establishment, in which new representations of politics emerge. The New Left is characterized by type of intermittent participation and new perspectives on mobilization inside the parties and the social movements. This type of parties differs moreover from the traditional ones left of the socialist and social democratic left in not arranging of organizations collaterals placed under the direction of the leadership of the same party. The mobilization that spontaneously assumes not conventional forms of active participation of the citizens, or is primed by the action of an associative network of which the same parties take part, than however does not monopo-lize the collective action. In this regard, the attention will be dedicated to the study of Die Linke: an anti-establishment party of the non-socialist German left-wing, heir to the communist tradition. The choice was affected to the German model because: 1) Germany is a country with a strong social democratic tradition, but 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the German political system identifies a new antagonist political party; 2) Die Linke represents an interesting case in the political landscape of the European radical left because is a one-party that gives up at the federation of parties to try to unify the political parties of German radical left-wing.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20356609v8i1p241

Keywords: Political Parties; Cleavages; Crisis; Welfare State; Non-Established

References


Abedi A. (2004), Anti-Political Establishment Parties. A Comparative Analysis, London: Routledge.

Backes, U. and P. Moreau (2008), Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Bardi L. (1996), “Anti-party Sentiment and Party System Change in Italy”, European Journal of Political Research, 29(3): 345–363, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1996.tb00656.x.

Barnes S. H. and M. Kaase (eds.) (1979), Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies, Beverly Hills: Sage.

Bartolini S. (2000), The Political Mobilization of the European Left 1860-1980: The Class Cleavage, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bartolini S. and P. Mair (1990), Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability: The Stabilisation of European Electorates, 1885-1985, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Beck U, A. Giddens and S. Lash (1999), Modernizzazione riflessiva. Politica, tradizione ed estetica nell’ordine sociale della modernità, Trieste: Asterios.

Calise M. (2010), Il partito personale. I due corpi del leader, Roma-Bari: Laterza.

Capoccia G. (2002), “Anti-system parties. A conceptual reassessment”, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 14(1): 9-35, doi: 10.1177/095169280201400103.

Cavalli L. (1994), La personalizzazione della politica, in Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Lo stato delle istituzioni italiane. Problemi e prospettive, Milano: Giuffrè, pp. 103-112.

Id. (2001), Il primato della politica nell’Italia del XXI secolo, Padova: CEDAM.

Daalder H. (1992), “A Crisis of Party”, Scandinavian Political Studies, 15(4): 269-288, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9477.1992.tb00022.x.

Dalton R. J. and M. P. Wattenberg (eds.) (2000), Parties Without Partisans. Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Damiani M. (2013), “Izquierda unida 25 anni dopo. La sinistra radicale spagnola dal 1986 al 2011”, Partecipazione e conflitto, 6(3): 54-76, doi: 10.3280/PACO2013-003003.

Davis J. A. (1959), “A Formal Interpretation of the Theory of Relative Deprivation”, Sociometry, (22)4: 280-296.

Duverger M. (1951), Les Partis Politiques, Paris: Libraire Armand Colin.

Flora P. (2002), “Introduzione e interpretazione”, in S. Rokkan, Stato, nazione e democrazia in Europa, Bologna: Il Mulino, pp. 19-125.

Fuchs D. and H. D. Klingemann (1995), “Citizens and the State: A Relationship Transformed”, in H. D. Klingemann and D. Fuchs (eds.), Citizens and the State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1-24.

Hirschman A.O. (1970), Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Hooghe L., G. Marks and C. J. Wilson (2004), “Does Left/Right Structure Party Positions on European Integration?”, in G. Mark G and M. R. Steenbergen (eds.), European Integration and Political Conflict, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 120-140.

Hough D. (2000), “‘Made in Eastern Germany’: The PDS and the Articulation of Eastern German Interests”, German Politics, (9)2: 125-148, doi: 10.1080/09644000008404595.

Hough D., M. Koß and J. Olsen (2007), The Left Party in Contemporary German Politics, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hüning H. and G. Neugebauer (1996),˝Die Pds“, in O. Niedermayer (eds.), Intermediäre Strukturen in Ostdeutschland, Opladen: Lesken-Budrich, pp. 67-85.

Ignazi P. (2012), Forza senza legittimità. Il vicolo cieco dei partiti, Roma-Bari: Laterza.

Kaase M. and H. D. Klingemann (eds.) (1994), Wahlen und Wähler. Analysen aus Anlass der Bundestagswahl 1990, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.

Katz R. and P. Mair (1995), “Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy: the Emergence of Cartel Party”, Party Politics, (1)1: 5-28, doi: 10.1177/1354068895001001001.

Id. (2009), “The Cartel Party Thesis: A Restatement”, Perspectives on Politics, 7: 753-766.

Kirchheimer O. (1966), “The Transformation of West European Party Systems”, in J. La Palombara, M. Weiner (eds.), Political Parties and Political Development, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Kitschelt H. (1988), “Left-libertarian Parties: Explaining Innovation in Competitive Party Systems, World Politics, (40)2, 194-234, doi: 10.2307/2010362.

Kitschelt H. (1994), The Transformation of European Social Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Knutsen O. and E. Scarbrough (1995), “Cleavage Politics”, in Van Deth J. and E. Scarbrough (eds.), The Impact of Values, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 492-524.

Kriesi H. (1998), “Il cambiamento dei cleavages politici in Europa”, Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 28(1): 55-80, doi: 10.1426/1621.

Lipset S. M. (2009), Istituzioni, partiti, società civile, Bologna: Il Mulino.

Lipset S.M. and S. Rokkan (1967), “Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments: An Introduction”, in Lipset S.M. and S. Rokkan, Party System and Voter Alignments, New York: The Free Press, pp. 1-64.

Luther K. R. and F. Muller-Rommel (2002), Political Parties in the New Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mair P. and I. Van Biezen (2001), “Party Membership in Twenty European Democracies, 1980-2000”, Party Politics, (7)1, 5-21, doi: 10.1177/1354068801007001001.

March J. G. and J. P. Olsen (1989), Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics, New York: The Free Press.

March L. (2011), Radical Left Parties in Europe (Extremism and Democracy), London: Routledge.

Meyer T. (2005), “Die Linkspartei im Parlament. Ein Stück Europäisierung des deutschen Parteiensystems“, Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte, (52)11: 41-43.

Moreau P. (2008), “The PDS/Linkspartei. PDS and the Extreme Left. Decline and Renaissance of Communism in Germany”, in Backes U. and P. Moreau (eds.), Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, pp. 39-86.

Mastropaolo A. (2005), La mucca pazza della democrazia. Nuove destre, populismo, antipolitica, Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.

Neugebauer G. (1997), “Von der SED zur PDS 1989 bis 1990“, in Herbst A., G. R. Stephan and J. Winkler (eds.), Die SED. Geschichte-Organisation-Politik. Ein Handbuch, Berlin: Dietz, pp. 100-117.

Neugebauer G. (2010), “Dalla PDS alla Linke. Formazione e caratteristiche di un nuovo partito della sinistra tedesca”, in E. Bosco and J. Schimd (eds.), La Germania rosso-verde. Stabilità e crisi di un sistema politico (1998-2005), Milano: Franco Angeli, pp. 251-296.

Niedermayer O. (2002), “Nach der Vereiningung: der Trend zum fluiden Fünfparteinsystem“, in O. W. Gabriel, O. Niedermayer and R. Stöss (eds.), Das Regierungssystem der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Berlin: Oldenburg, pp. 107-127.

Olsen J. (2002), “The PDS in Western Germany: An Empirical Study of PDS Local Politicians”, German Politics, (11)1: 142-172, doi: 10.1080/714001226.

Olsen J. (2007), “The Merger of the PDS and WASG: From Eastern German Regional Party to National Radical Left Party?”, German Politics, (16)2: 205-221, doi: 10.1080/09644000701414206.

Panebianco A. (1988), Political Parties: Organization and Power, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pizzorno A. (1996), “Mutamenti nelle istituzioni rappresentative e sviluppo dei partiti politici”, in AA.VV., La storia dell’Europa contemporanea, Torino: Einaudi.

Poguntke T. (1987), “New Politics and Party Systems: The Emergence of a New Type of Party?”, West European Politics, (10)1: 76-88, doi: 10.1080/01402388708424615.

Poguntke T. (1996), “Anti-party Sentiment-Conceptual Thoughts and Empirical Evidence: Explorations into a Minefield”, European Journal of Political Research, (29)3: 319–344, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1996.tb00655.x.

Raniolo F. (2000), “Miti e realtà del cartel party. Le trasformazioni dei partiti alla fine del ventesimo secolo”, Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, (30)3: 553-581, doi: 10.1426/1672.

Rosanvallon P. (2008), Counter-democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rosanvallon P. (2011), Democratic Legitimacy: Impartiality, Reflexivity, Proximity, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Runciman W. G. (1966), Relative Deprivation and Social Justice. A study of Attitudes to Social Inequality in Twentieth-century England, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Saalfeld T. (2002), “The German party system: Continuity and change”, German Politics, (11)3: 99-130, doi: 10.1080/714001303.

Sartori G. (1976), Parties and Parties Systems. A Framework for Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schedler A. (1996), “Anti-Political-Establishment Parties”, Party Politics, (2)3: 291-312, doi: 10.1177/1354068896002003001.

Taggart P. (2000), Populism, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Viviani L. (2009), L’Europa dei partiti. Per una sociologia dei partiti politici nel processo di integrazione europea, Firenze: Firenze University Press.

Viviani L. (2015), Sociologia dei partiti. Leader e organizzazioni politiche nelle società contemporanee. Roma: Carocci.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
کاغذ a4

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.