Popular in Political Science

Political Science

V-Dem’s Conceptions of Democracy and Their Consequences

University of Notre Dame Michael Coppedge

American Politics

Keeping the Republic

Boston College Marc Landy

British Politics

Entrepreneurial thinking: the politics and practice of policy impact

University of Sheffield Matthew Flinders

Canadian Politics

Parties and Elections: An End to Canadian Exceptionalism?

St. Francis Xavier University James Bickerton

Asian Politics

The Politics of Knowledge in Development

University of Delhi Madhulika Banerjee

American Politics

Fifty years of declining confidence and increasing polarization in trust

University of California Berkeley Henry Brady

American Politics

Radical Left Voters in Western Europe

View more insights in Social Sciences - Political Science - European and International Studies

View more figures from University of Liverpool

View the page of Raul Gomez

Read the Study

Next in European and International Studies

Allied Air Attacks and Civilian Harm in Italy, 1940–1945 Bombing among Friends

Matthew Anthony Evangelista | Cornell University

Contested Liberalization: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Conflict in France

Jonah Levy | UC Berkeley

Raul Gomez explores who votes for Radical Left Parties in contemporary Western Europe, and why.

Image courtesy of interviewee. June 18, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video is a detailed discussion about a book analyzing the resurgence of radical left parties in Western Europe following the Great Recession. The authors, including co-author Luis Ramiro, sought to understand why support for these parties increased when many had predicted their decline. The book examines the characteristics of radical left parties, which are generally defined by their economic leftist positions, rejection of neoliberalism, and emphasis on wealth redistribution, yet often lack clear alternative proposals to the current capitalist system.

The radical left includes various parties, some stemming from traditional communist backgrounds, as well as newer movements like Podemos in Spain. While diverse, these parties share a rejection of neoliberal policies and are the most left-leaning electoral options in their respective countries. The book distinguishes these radical left parties from extreme anti-system factions, indicating that they do not reject liberal democracy or advocate for violent means to achieve goals.

The authors highlight several factors influencing voter support for the radical left, notably economic hardship, dissatisfaction with mainstream politics, and a progressive stance on social issues such as immigration and same-sex marriage. Voters tend to be generally more open to change and prioritize collective welfare over individual interests.

This video further points out that successful radical left parties effectively attract a heterogeneous coalition of voters, including both working-class and progressive middle-class individuals. The authors note that these parties perform well in contexts marked by high unemployment and dissatisfaction with the political status quo.

The main conclusions of the book include the adaptability of radical left parties to various political contexts and their ability to form diverse electoral coalitions united by common progressive values. It indicates a strong correlation between economic conditions—specifically unemployment rates—and support for radical left parties.

Additionally, the authors suggest that further research is needed to understand the role of party leadership in electoral success, recognizing charismatic leaders' potential impact on party performance. This video illustrates various examples from countries like France and Spain, where effective leaders have significantly influenced the success rates of radical left parties.

Overall, the book contributes to the understanding of the contemporary political landscape of Western Europe, emphasizing the resilience and adaptability of radical left parties amidst changing socio-economic conditions.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.145 --> 00:04.005
The book is a culmination of a long project that started,

00:04.465 --> 00:07.365
in the aftermath of, of the, of the Great Recession,

00:07.955 --> 00:09.485
when, we saw that support

00:09.485 --> 00:11.565
for radical left parties increased

00:12.225 --> 00:14.765
across several West European countries.

00:15.305 --> 00:18.045
And so, my co-author Luis Ramiro,

00:18.045 --> 00:20.885
and I were interested in understanding this in under

00:21.015 --> 00:24.885
successful at that time when, only, you know,

00:24.965 --> 00:28.925
a few decades back, everybody was predicting these,

00:29.215 --> 00:32.965
these parties to, to, to become less, less successful,

00:33.145 --> 00:34.805
after the fall of the early war.

00:36.385 --> 00:39.405
And so, we were interested in this phenomenon.

00:39.405 --> 00:42.885
We, we were interested in explaining the survival of,

00:42.985 --> 00:46.885
of these parties also explaining why sometimes these parties

00:46.995 --> 00:49.485
were able to amass a significant amount

00:49.825 --> 00:51.045
of electoral support.

00:51.505 --> 00:53.565
Uh, but we also realized that there was very little

00:54.205 --> 00:57.365
research into these parties, as suppose precisely

00:57.365 --> 00:58.965
because, you know, as I said

00:58.965 --> 01:01.685
before, a few years back, everybody was thinking

01:02.155 --> 01:04.485
that they would become electorally relevant.

01:05.305 --> 01:07.725
The 10 radical left parties actually quite inclusive.

01:08.425 --> 01:10.685
Um, in the book, we focus on parties

01:10.715 --> 01:12.685
that have parliamentary representation,

01:13.545 --> 01:17.485
and they're mostly parties that are placed to the left

01:17.705 --> 01:20.885
of the greens and the social Democrats on economic issues.

01:21.705 --> 01:26.365
And so, what they all have in common is their rejection

01:26.365 --> 01:29.285
of neoliberalism and, and capitalist society,

01:29.705 --> 01:31.605
and their strong emphasis on,

01:32.145 --> 01:33.885
in common wealth redistribution.

01:34.385 --> 01:38.845
And also the often vague idea that they would like

01:38.845 --> 01:42.245
to replace the current consumerist capitalist society

01:42.245 --> 01:44.925
with something else, which they is something

01:44.925 --> 01:47.605
that they rarely provide details on in their

01:48.005 --> 01:49.205
documents and their manifestos.

01:49.865 --> 01:52.285
But this is, this is basically what they all have in common,

01:52.345 --> 01:55.045
and that means that the term is quite inclusive

01:55.105 --> 01:59.045
and it, it includes as well many different parties,

01:59.045 --> 02:00.325
from different traditions.

02:00.345 --> 02:03.365
So it includes the old communist parties,

02:03.505 --> 02:05.405
or at least the, the, the few of them

02:05.405 --> 02:08.445
that are still electorally relevant in Western Europe.

02:08.545 --> 02:11.085
So it includes the, the Greek communists,

02:11.085 --> 02:12.925
the Portuguese Communists, and the,

02:13.065 --> 02:14.165
and the French communists.

02:14.905 --> 02:16.045
It also includes parties

02:16.195 --> 02:18.445
that come from the communist tradition,

02:18.825 --> 02:19.845
but they change their names

02:19.865 --> 02:22.765
and they transform themselves into something even though

02:22.765 --> 02:25.325
they're still to the left of the mainstream left.

02:25.585 --> 02:30.205
Uh, so those are, the cases of parties in, in Finland,

02:30.225 --> 02:32.405
in Sweden, in Spain, and so on and so forth.

02:32.945 --> 02:35.285
And then there's also other parties which

02:35.935 --> 02:38.165
don't come from the communist tradition,

02:38.585 --> 02:41.045
but that including Mecho party in France

02:41.185 --> 02:43.885
or Podemos in Spain, et cetera.

02:44.385 --> 02:47.325
And so all of these parties remain as the most

02:48.075 --> 02:51.365
left-wing electoral option in their countries.

02:52.105 --> 02:55.085
And, I think it's important to remark that

02:55.315 --> 02:59.205
what we look at in the book is not extreme

02:59.665 --> 03:02.615
or directly anti-system parties.

03:03.275 --> 03:08.135
So there are very few very extreme left parties in

03:08.135 --> 03:09.535
contemporary Western Europe

03:09.725 --> 03:12.375
that voters find appealing nowadays.

03:12.595 --> 03:15.015
So these parties that we look at are radical in

03:15.015 --> 03:18.415
what they propose, but, they're not extreme in the sense

03:18.415 --> 03:22.255
that they reject, you know, liberal democracy

03:22.555 --> 03:25.775
or they, they want to achieve their goals by,

03:25.775 --> 03:27.895
violent revolution or anything like that.

03:28.555 --> 03:30.015
So these are not the source of parties

03:30.015 --> 03:32.135
that we concentrate on in the book.

03:33.155 --> 03:37.095
And then when it comes to their voters, regardless

03:37.115 --> 03:39.295
of the heterogeneity of this party family,

03:39.345 --> 03:42.895
which I think it is slowly becoming less heterogeneous

03:42.895 --> 03:47.775
anyway, what we find is that there is a,

03:49.055 --> 03:51.545
a common core of values

03:52.165 --> 03:54.665
and opinions that these voters tend to have.

03:54.725 --> 03:58.545
So across parties, and even across parties are maybe very

03:58.545 --> 04:02.225
different, in their, you know, electoral trajectories,

04:02.245 --> 04:05.545
but also in their, in their, historical trajectories

04:05.565 --> 04:07.945
and their or origins and, and what they think

04:07.945 --> 04:09.625
and what they stand for as well sometimes.

04:10.405 --> 04:14.305
Um, but they, those people who vote for these parties tend

04:14.305 --> 04:16.785
to be progressive on both economic

04:17.365 --> 04:19.025
and non-economic issues as well.

04:19.125 --> 04:21.625
So, you know, including immigration

04:21.845 --> 04:24.945
and, you know, same sex marriage, et cetera, et cetera.

04:25.245 --> 04:28.305
So even though these parties are quite diverse when it comes

04:28.305 --> 04:31.145
to non economic issues, their voters tend

04:31.145 --> 04:32.945
to be quite progressive on those as well.

04:33.965 --> 04:36.145
And also something that we find across

04:37.005 --> 04:39.185
almost every single country when we,

04:39.375 --> 04:41.385
when we look at these parties, is

04:41.385 --> 04:44.065
that psychologically speaking, their voters tend

04:44.065 --> 04:48.225
to be much more open to change, than the average voter.

04:48.805 --> 04:53.585
And they also tend to prioritize values that place concerns

04:53.645 --> 04:55.145
for, for the welfare of others.

04:55.875 --> 04:57.665
Above individuals have interest,

04:58.085 --> 04:59.625
and they do so,

04:59.815 --> 05:02.585
much more than the average voter in in their countries.

05:03.705 --> 05:06.725
So when it comes to, to the social stratification

05:06.725 --> 05:08.725
of the radical left and the, you know, the kinds

05:08.725 --> 05:11.405
of social classes that, that, that vote

05:11.405 --> 05:14.765
for the radical left, we are quite surprised to find

05:14.765 --> 05:18.325
that these, these parties, the majority of them have managed

05:18.385 --> 05:20.125
to put together a,

05:20.285 --> 05:23.245
a relatively heterogeneous electoral coalition.

05:23.265 --> 05:25.765
So they've been able to attract on the one side,

05:25.985 --> 05:30.205
on the one hand, you know, working class voters.

05:30.505 --> 05:33.085
So some of them are more successful among the traditional,

05:33.625 --> 05:37.205
production, side of the working class.

05:37.305 --> 05:39.325
So they are more successful among the,

05:39.325 --> 05:40.725
the new service working class,

05:41.265 --> 05:43.045
but it's not the only group of voters

05:43.375 --> 05:45.605
among which they are relatively successful.

05:46.305 --> 05:50.005
So they attract both, sectors

05:50.005 --> 05:51.245
of the progressive working class

05:51.465 --> 05:53.845
and sectors of the middle class,

05:53.865 --> 05:55.525
of the progressive middle class as well,

05:55.525 --> 05:56.965
particularly professionals.

05:57.785 --> 06:00.085
And so there's some exceptions to these rules.

06:00.105 --> 06:02.325
So it doesn't happen absolutely everywhere,

06:02.705 --> 06:06.925
but we tend to see those kinds of combinations of sectors

06:06.925 --> 06:08.445
of the middle classes and sectors

06:08.445 --> 06:10.085
of the working classes everywhere.

06:10.715 --> 06:13.525
Some of those countries where we find exceptions are,

06:13.525 --> 06:14.525
for example, countries

06:14.525 --> 06:17.365
where more than one radical left party exist

06:17.785 --> 06:19.045
and they compete with each other.

06:19.145 --> 06:20.925
So there's some sort of, you know,

06:20.955 --> 06:25.045
electoral specialization with one party targeting,

06:25.265 --> 06:27.325
you know, working class voters more,

06:27.325 --> 06:29.165
whereas the other focuses more on,

06:29.185 --> 06:30.565
on the middle classes.

06:30.905 --> 06:33.965
But, but as I said, in general, for, for most

06:34.385 --> 06:37.885
of these parties, what we try to, what we tend to find is,

06:38.025 --> 06:41.085
them being able to attract,

06:41.175 --> 06:43.085
those different kinds of voters.

06:43.825 --> 06:46.245
So the factors that lead to support for the radical left,

06:46.355 --> 06:47.365
well, there are many factors,

06:47.425 --> 06:50.365
and of course, it's, attitudes and, and, and, you know,

06:50.365 --> 06:51.565
and political preferences

06:52.025 --> 06:54.605
and all of those are very obvious people have in common.

06:54.745 --> 06:57.365
So despite of, of their, of their having

06:57.915 --> 06:59.485
very different social backgrounds,

06:59.485 --> 07:01.085
what they have in common is those attitudes

07:01.085 --> 07:02.605
and those, those political preferences.

07:03.225 --> 07:05.405
But there are, there are some things

07:05.405 --> 07:07.845
that are very important for, for radical left parties.

07:08.425 --> 07:12.485
Uh, one is people's attitudes towards,

07:13.235 --> 07:16.605
political parties, towards politicians, towards,

07:17.115 --> 07:18.365
democracy as well.

07:18.465 --> 07:22.325
So people who are more dissatisfied,

07:22.595 --> 07:24.125
with the way democracy works

07:24.185 --> 07:26.445
and dissatisfied with, mainstream politicians,

07:26.445 --> 07:28.325
with political parties, et cetera.

07:28.325 --> 07:30.285
Those people tend to be more likely to vote

07:30.285 --> 07:31.805
for radical parties in general,

07:31.905 --> 07:34.045
but also more likely to vote for the radical left.

07:35.305 --> 07:37.245
Um, something else that we find in the book,

07:37.245 --> 07:39.725
which is also very important, is that those people

07:40.265 --> 07:43.125
who are in a situation of economic hardship

07:43.505 --> 07:46.245
and also those who care about people who are in a situation

07:46.245 --> 07:49.445
of economic hardship, those people are, more likely

07:49.445 --> 07:51.245
to vote for the radical left.

07:51.305 --> 07:54.325
So then you get a few hints from that, from this, right?

07:54.825 --> 07:58.925
So, this all means that when you have some sort of,

07:59.425 --> 08:03.445
you know, combination of, bad economic conditions,

08:03.445 --> 08:05.445
particularly when it comes to unemployment

08:05.945 --> 08:10.045
and also low levels of trust in political elites, in,

08:10.045 --> 08:13.565
in political or in mainstream political parties, then

08:13.565 --> 08:17.365
what you get is a context that is quite favor favorable to,

08:17.585 --> 08:18.965
to the radical left.

08:18.985 --> 08:21.245
And something that we find in the book,

08:21.245 --> 08:22.365
but also in previous work.

08:22.465 --> 08:24.525
And it's very consistent. We looked at this

08:24.525 --> 08:27.285
with different kinds of data, with different kinds

08:27.285 --> 08:29.005
of countries, different timeframes,

08:29.065 --> 08:31.005
and we always find the same.

08:31.065 --> 08:33.845
We find a very strong correlation between unemployment rates

08:34.225 --> 08:35.805
and support for the radical left.

08:36.105 --> 08:37.805
That's very, very, very clear.

08:38.625 --> 08:43.365
Um, it's also important to highlight

08:43.365 --> 08:47.405
that despite radical left par radical left parties,

08:48.925 --> 08:51.245
emphasis on economic issues, something

08:51.245 --> 08:54.485
as we find in the book is that those radical left parties

08:55.195 --> 08:59.045
that are more successful, the, the biggest ones are parties

08:59.195 --> 09:01.445
that are focused not just on economic issues,

09:01.465 --> 09:02.965
but also non-economic issues.

09:03.145 --> 09:06.845
So those parties that also emphasized a lot issues,

09:06.915 --> 09:09.325
regarding their progressive stances on, you know,

09:09.965 --> 09:13.645
cultural issues, feminism, sex, same marriage,

09:13.825 --> 09:17.245
and immigr also parties that focus on,

09:17.305 --> 09:18.485
on the eu, for example.

09:18.485 --> 09:22.605
These parties tend to be slightly euroskeptic, most

09:22.605 --> 09:25.085
of them, some are hard europs,

09:25.085 --> 09:28.405
but most, most of them are, what we call soft europs.

09:28.405 --> 09:29.885
So they're kind of critical of the EU,

09:30.555 --> 09:32.045
even though they're not completely

09:32.045 --> 09:33.685
against European integration.

09:34.105 --> 09:37.005
And when these parties use those issues as well,

09:37.005 --> 09:40.165
besides economic issues, that enables them

09:40.265 --> 09:42.325
to compete better with other parties.

09:42.465 --> 09:45.725
So when radical left le when radical left parties

09:45.745 --> 09:49.365
or those radical left parties that, that, basically

09:49.955 --> 09:51.965
only talk about economic issues

09:52.465 --> 09:55.045
or mostly talk about economic issues, they tend

09:55.045 --> 09:56.645
to have a very narrow electorate

09:56.785 --> 09:58.965
and they struggle to compete

09:59.275 --> 10:01.805
with other parties when other issues come at the forefront

10:01.825 --> 10:03.085
of, of voters' minds.

10:03.085 --> 10:05.045
So, so this is something very important as well

10:05.045 --> 10:06.045
that we saw in the book.

10:06.925 --> 10:09.405
I think that was very evident in the, in the,

10:09.415 --> 10:14.045
great recession we saw, for example, the, the series

10:14.065 --> 10:17.245
of the coalition, of the radical left in Greece,

10:17.615 --> 10:20.845
which at the time had, so, so that was a, it used

10:20.845 --> 10:23.445
to be a very small, radical left party that

10:23.445 --> 10:25.725
that competed with the, with the Communist party in,

10:25.725 --> 10:26.965
in Greece.

10:27.105 --> 10:29.445
And, and, and it suddenly became more and more

10:29.745 --> 10:32.605
and more successful, in the aftermath of the,

10:32.625 --> 10:34.285
of the Great Recession at the expense

10:34.285 --> 10:35.485
of the social Democrats.

10:36.145 --> 10:39.005
The same happened as well in, in Spain, for example,

10:39.505 --> 10:41.685
and in the both cases where,

10:41.825 --> 10:44.485
at some point there were very high levels of unemployment

10:44.505 --> 10:47.045
and that, that there was this clear correlation.

10:47.665 --> 10:50.125
Um, as well, we have seen support

10:50.125 --> 10:53.045
for the radical left also emerge in other cases.

10:53.505 --> 10:57.395
Uh, and in those cases it has been either related

10:57.395 --> 10:58.435
to economic conditions

10:58.535 --> 11:00.675
or related to, to distrust in, in the,

11:00.675 --> 11:02.115
in the political elites or both.

11:02.375 --> 11:03.595
So, France

11:03.655 --> 11:05.955
and Belgium, for example, one of those cases

11:05.955 --> 11:08.115
where the radical left has been increasing,

11:08.415 --> 11:09.795
you know, in the past.

11:11.645 --> 11:16.295
The main conclusion of the book, I'd say is, well,

11:16.615 --> 11:18.455
I would say there are two, two main conclusions.

11:18.555 --> 11:23.135
So, so one is that these parties, the radical left,

11:23.135 --> 11:26.815
they, they've been relatively skillful in, surviving

11:27.075 --> 11:29.655
and adapting to different circumstances.

11:30.475 --> 11:34.135
So, it is true that extraordinary levels of support

11:34.135 --> 11:36.615
for the radical left are relatively rare.

11:36.835 --> 11:38.295
So they happen sometimes,

11:38.515 --> 11:40.095
but they don't happen all the time.

11:40.675 --> 11:43.935
But when the conditions are, are ripe for it, and, and the,

11:44.155 --> 11:46.135
and these parties apply the right strategy,

11:46.135 --> 11:47.175
sometimes they're able

11:47.175 --> 11:48.735
to maximize their electoral potential,

11:48.915 --> 11:51.535
and then we see their support,

11:51.715 --> 11:53.325
go up at least in a short time.

11:53.545 --> 11:55.125
It doesn't always last for long,

11:55.265 --> 11:58.165
but we, we can see that in many cases.

11:59.025 --> 12:02.485
Um, another conclusion is that

12:03.325 --> 12:04.325
I was mentioning this

12:04.325 --> 12:07.325
before, that, you know, they, they're also very skillful in

12:08.295 --> 12:12.285
being able to put together a relatively heterogeneous group

12:12.285 --> 12:13.685
of people with different kinds

12:13.685 --> 12:15.485
of interests from different social backgrounds.

12:15.585 --> 12:18.925
And they do that because of their common views on,

12:19.025 --> 12:21.245
on issues, their progressive views on different kinds

12:21.245 --> 12:23.485
of issues, their, the common values as well.

12:24.065 --> 12:27.045
And that means that, you were mentioning,

12:27.185 --> 12:29.885
the radical right before, that means

12:30.005 --> 12:34.485
that in western Europe nowadays, the overwhelming majority

12:34.625 --> 12:37.205
of radical left parties don't really compete

12:37.265 --> 12:40.605
for the same kind of electorate as the radical, right?

12:41.335 --> 12:43.245
There are a couple of vote exceptions

12:43.335 --> 12:46.005
where there is potential for that,

12:46.635 --> 12:49.605
because you can see that their voters are

12:50.455 --> 12:54.765
relatively different to those of other, I mean, majority

12:54.785 --> 12:57.165
of these parties, they're just not competing

12:57.165 --> 12:58.925
for the same sort of voter.

12:58.955 --> 13:01.045
They're, if they were to try

13:01.145 --> 13:03.965
and attract those who vote for the radical left, sorry

13:03.965 --> 13:05.325
for the radical, right,

13:05.955 --> 13:08.885
they would most likely lose the current voltage.

13:10.025 --> 13:12.565
Um, then in terms of future research,

13:12.685 --> 13:15.325
I think there are many different avenues, many areas

13:15.465 --> 13:16.925
for future research, of course.

13:17.185 --> 13:21.445
Um, but something that we didn't get to do in the book is

13:21.445 --> 13:26.405
to look at the, the role that leaders play in,

13:27.495 --> 13:29.925
maximizing the success of radical left parties.

13:30.025 --> 13:31.645
And I think this is very important, not just

13:31.645 --> 13:34.485
for the radical left, but for radical parties in general.

13:34.825 --> 13:36.285
How important are leaders?

13:36.545 --> 13:40.085
So we know that they have been cases, of leaders

13:40.225 --> 13:43.925
who have been claimed to be, very popular.

13:44.665 --> 13:47.925
And these leaders are often, you know,

13:48.025 --> 13:49.405
behind their electoral, the,

13:49.405 --> 13:51.325
the electoral success of these parties.

13:51.505 --> 13:54.565
The problem is that it's very difficult to, first of all,

13:54.795 --> 13:56.045
when people talk about leaders

13:56.105 --> 13:57.725
and they think, well, these leader is very popular,

13:57.825 --> 14:00.125
it is usually because the party is actually successful

14:00.125 --> 14:01.845
and then they attribute the popularity

14:01.845 --> 14:03.205
of the leader to the success.

14:03.345 --> 14:05.565
So, that is a problem.

14:05.585 --> 14:08.325
And the second problem is it's very different di difficult

14:08.425 --> 14:12.285
to, to, to separate the effect of leaders

14:12.665 --> 14:15.565
and leader evaluations from the effect of other things

14:15.565 --> 14:19.045
that may lead people to vote for the radical left.

14:19.875 --> 14:23.325
However, even though it is something very difficult to do,

14:23.445 --> 14:27.885
I think it is terribly missing from our knowledge of how

14:28.065 --> 14:30.645
and when radical parties succeed.

14:30.785 --> 14:33.085
And, and, and that's, that's one of the main areas

14:33.345 --> 14:36.125
for further research that I definitely think,

14:36.125 --> 14:39.805
that we need to make an effort to try and, and, and,

14:39.905 --> 14:42.965
and well and get to know more about this, more about,

14:42.965 --> 14:45.005
about the effect that, that the leaders,

14:45.275 --> 14:47.325
leaders have on their support,

14:47.545 --> 14:49.805
for these parties on the electoral success of these parties,

14:49.815 --> 14:50.925
which we didn't

14:51.005 --> 14:52.485
Manage to do in the book, but I think

14:52.485 --> 14:53.725
it's something that has to be done.

14:53.945 --> 14:56.805
It has to be done because of what I was saying before.

14:56.825 --> 14:58.525
So if you look, for example, you look at France

14:58.525 --> 15:00.445
and you look, you see hun, right?

15:00.585 --> 15:04.645
Uh, so you know, somebody with this kind of personality,

15:04.645 --> 15:07.885
with this kind of charisma, that, that has managed to bring

15:08.595 --> 15:11.285
support for the radical left in, in France to

15:11.695 --> 15:15.005
above 20% in the last, presidential election,

15:15.155 --> 15:19.405
just 2 million voters away from, the candidate who,

15:19.505 --> 15:21.685
who came first in that, in that election.

15:22.385 --> 15:24.605
Uh, you look at, at Podemos, for example,

15:24.705 --> 15:28.365
the Podemos success as well with public less in, in,

15:28.705 --> 15:30.685
in Spain, you look at all of those cases

15:30.685 --> 15:31.765
of charismatic leaders

15:31.865 --> 15:34.285
and then, these parties being successful.

15:34.285 --> 15:36.085
And also you look at all the similar cases

15:36.145 --> 15:37.405
for the radical right as well.

15:37.785 --> 15:39.485
And you wonder, as I was saying

15:39.485 --> 15:43.125
before, you wonder is do we think that these leaders are

15:43.645 --> 15:45.525
charismatic because the parties are successful?

15:45.545 --> 15:47.685
Are other parties successful because of their leaders?

15:48.305 --> 15:50.125
And we don't really know much about this.

15:50.665 --> 15:53.685
We see these cases emerge, you know, now, and the,

15:53.685 --> 15:56.285
and again, but we don't have enough evidence to actually,

15:56.905 --> 15:59.975
to actually, test whether

15:59.995 --> 16:01.735
or not there is some ality there.

16:02.155 --> 16:03.735
And, nothing that,

16:03.735 --> 16:07.135
that would really help us explain more about when these

16:07.135 --> 16:08.575
parties are successful.

"Examining the Resurgence and Diversity of Radical Left Parties in Post-Recession Western Europe"

00:00:00 - The book is a culmination of a long project that started, in the aftermath of, of the, of the Great Recession, when, we saw that support for radical left parties increased across several West European countries. And so, my co-author Luis Ramiro, and I were interested in understanding this in under successful at that time when, only, you know, a few decades back, everybody was predicting these, these parties to, to, to become less, less successful, after the fall of the early war. And so, we were interested in this phenomenon. We, we were interested in explaining the survival of,
00:00:46 - were able to amass a significant amount of electoral support. but we also realized that there was very little research into these parties, as suppose precisely because, you know, as I said before, a few years back, everybody was thinking that they would become electorally relevant. The 10 radical left parties actually quite inclusive. in the book, we focus on parties that have parliamentary representation, and they're mostly parties that are placed to the left of the greens and the social Democrats on economic issues. And so, what they all have in common is their rejection
00:01:29 - and their strong emphasis on, in common wealth redistribution. And also the often vague idea that they would like to replace the current consumerist capitalist society with something else, which they is something that they rarely provide details on in their documents and their manifestos. But this is, this is basically what they all have in common, and that means that the term is quite inclusive and it, it includes as well many different parties, from different traditions. So it includes the old communist parties, or at least the, the, the few of them that are still electorally relevant in Western Europe.
00:02:11 - the Portuguese Communists, and the, and the French communists. It also includes parties that come from the communist tradition, but they change their names and they transform themselves into something even though they're still to the left of the mainstream left. so those are, the cases of parties in, in Finland, in Sweden, in Spain, and so on and so forth. And then there's also other parties which don't come from the communist tradition, but that including Mecho party in France or Podemos in Spain, et cetera. And so all of these parties remain as the most left-wing electoral option in their countries.
00:02:55 - what we look at in the book is not extreme or directly anti-system parties. So there are very few very extreme left parties in contemporary Western Europe that voters find appealing nowadays. So these parties that we look at are radical in what they propose, but, they're not extreme in the sense that they reject, you know, liberal democracy or they, they want to achieve their goals by, violent revolution or anything like that. So these are not the source of parties that we concentrate on in the book.
00:03:37 - of the heterogeneity of this party family, which I think it is slowly becoming less heterogeneous anyway, what we find is that there is a, a common core of values and opinions that these voters tend to have. So across parties, and even across parties are maybe very different, in their, you know, electoral trajectories, but also in their, in their, historical trajectories and their or origins and, and what they think and what they stand for as well sometimes. but they, those people who vote for these parties tend

"Progressive Coalitions: The Diverse Support Base and Values of Radical Left Voters"

00:04:17 - and non-economic issues as well. So, you know, including immigration and, you know, same sex marriage, et cetera, et cetera. So even though these parties are quite diverse when it comes to non economic issues, their voters tend to be quite progressive on those as well. And also something that we find across almost every single country when we, when we look at these parties, is that psychologically speaking, their voters tend to be much more open to change, than the average voter. And they also tend to prioritize values that place concerns for, for the welfare of others.
00:04:58 - and they do so, much more than the average voter in in their countries. So when it comes to, to the social stratification of the radical left and the, you know, the kinds of social classes that, that, that vote for the radical left, we are quite surprised to find that these, these parties, the majority of them have managed to put together a, a relatively heterogeneous electoral coalition. So they've been able to attract on the one side, on the one hand, you know, working class voters. So some of them are more successful among the traditional, production, side of the working class.
00:05:39 - the new service working class, but it's not the only group of voters among which they are relatively successful. So they attract both, sectors of the progressive working class and sectors of the middle class, of the progressive middle class as well, particularly professionals. And so there's some exceptions to these rules. So it doesn't happen absolutely everywhere, but we tend to see those kinds of combinations of sectors of the middle classes and sectors of the working classes everywhere. Some of those countries where we find exceptions are, for example, countries where more than one radical left party exist
00:06:19 - So there's some sort of, you know, electoral specialization with one party targeting, you know, working class voters more, whereas the other focuses more on, on the middle classes. But, but as I said, in general, for, for most of these parties, what we try to, what we tend to find is, them being able to attract, those different kinds of voters. So the factors that lead to support for the radical left, well, there are many factors, and of course, it's, attitudes and, and, and, you know, and political preferences and all of those are very obvious people have in common. So despite of, of their, of their having
00:06:59 - what they have in common is those attitudes and those, those political preferences. But there are, there are some things that are very important for, for radical left parties. one is people's attitudes towards, political parties, towards politicians, towards, democracy as well. So people who are more dissatisfied, with the way democracy works and dissatisfied with, mainstream politicians, with political parties, et cetera. Those people tend to be more likely to vote for radical parties in general, but also more likely to vote for the radical left. something else that we find in the book, which is also very important, is that those people
00:07:43 - and also those who care about people who are in a situation of economic hardship, those people are, more likely to vote for the radical left. So then you get a few hints from that, from this, right? So, this all means that when you have some sort of, you know, combination of, bad economic conditions, particularly when it comes to unemployment and also low levels of trust in political elites, in, in political or in mainstream political parties, then what you get is a context that is quite favor favorable to, to the radical left. And something that we find in the book,

The Resilience and Adaptation of Radical Left Parties: Economic Correlations and Beyond

00:08:22 - And it's very consistent. We looked at this with different kinds of data, with different kinds of countries, different timeframes, and we always find the same. We find a very strong correlation between unemployment rates and support for the radical left. That's very, very, very clear. it's also important to highlight that despite radical left par radical left parties, emphasis on economic issues, something as we find in the book is that those radical left parties that are more successful, the, the biggest ones are parties that are focused not just on economic issues,
00:09:03 - So those parties that also emphasized a lot issues, regarding their progressive stances on, you know, cultural issues, feminism, sex, same marriage, and immigr also parties that focus on, on the eu, for example. These parties tend to be slightly euroskeptic, most of them, some are hard europs, but most, most of them are, what we call soft europs. So they're kind of critical of the EU, even though they're not completely against European integration. And when these parties use those issues as well, besides economic issues, that enables them to compete better with other parties.
00:09:45 - or those radical left parties that, that, basically only talk about economic issues or mostly talk about economic issues, they tend to have a very narrow electorate and they struggle to compete with other parties when other issues come at the forefront of, of voters' minds. So, so this is something very important as well that we saw in the book. I think that was very evident in the, in the, great recession we saw, for example, the, the series of the coalition, of the radical left in Greece, which at the time had, so, so that was a, it used to be a very small, radical left party that
00:10:25 - in Greece. And, and, and it suddenly became more and more and more successful, in the aftermath of the, of the Great Recession at the expense of the social Democrats. The same happened as well in, in Spain, for example, and in the both cases where, at some point there were very high levels of unemployment and that, that there was this clear correlation. as well, we have seen support for the radical left also emerge in other cases. and in those cases it has been either related to economic conditions or related to, to distrust in, in the, in the political elites or both. So, France
00:11:05 - where the radical left has been increasing, you know, in the past. The main conclusion of the book, I'd say is, well, I would say there are two, two main conclusions. So, so one is that these parties, the radical left, they, they've been relatively skillful in, surviving and adapting to different circumstances. So, it is true that extraordinary levels of support for the radical left are relatively rare. So they happen sometimes, but they don't happen all the time. But when the conditions are, are ripe for it, and, and the,
00:11:46 - sometimes they're able to maximize their electoral potential, and then we see their support, go up at least in a short time. It doesn't always last for long, but we, we can see that in many cases. another conclusion is that I was mentioning this before, that, you know, they, they're also very skillful in being able to put together a relatively heterogeneous group of people with different kinds of interests from different social backgrounds. And they do that because of their common views on, on issues, their progressive views on different kinds of issues, their, the common values as well. And that means that, you were mentioning,

"Exploring the Distinct Electorates of Radical Left and Radical Right Parties in Western Europe: The Role of Leadership in Electoral Success"

00:12:30 - that in western Europe nowadays, the overwhelming majority of radical left parties don't really compete for the same kind of electorate as the radical, right? There are a couple of vote exceptions where there is potential for that, because you can see that their voters are relatively different to those of other, I mean, majority of these parties, they're just not competing for the same sort of voter. They're, if they were to try and attract those who vote for the radical left, sorry for the radical, right, they would most likely lose the current voltage.
00:13:12 - I think there are many different avenues, many areas for future research, of course. but something that we didn't get to do in the book is to look at the, the role that leaders play in, maximizing the success of radical left parties. And I think this is very important, not just for the radical left, but for radical parties in general. How important are leaders? So we know that they have been cases, of leaders who have been claimed to be, very popular. And these leaders are often, you know, behind their electoral, the, the electoral success of these parties.
00:13:54 - when people talk about leaders and they think, well, these leader is very popular, it is usually because the party is actually successful and then they attribute the popularity of the leader to the success. So, that is a problem. And the second problem is it's very different di difficult to, to, to separate the effect of leaders and leader evaluations from the effect of other things that may lead people to vote for the radical left. However, even though it is something very difficult to do, I think it is terribly missing from our knowledge of how and when radical parties succeed. And, and, and that's, that's one of the main areas
00:14:36 - that we need to make an effort to try and, and, and, and well and get to know more about this, more about, about the effect that, that the leaders, leaders have on their support, for these parties on the electoral success of these parties, which we didn't Manage to do in the book, but I think it's something that has to be done. It has to be done because of what I was saying before. So if you look, for example, you look at France and you look, you see hun, right? so you know, somebody with this kind of personality, with this kind of charisma, that, that has managed to bring support for the radical left in, in France to above 20% in the last, presidential election,
00:15:19 - who came first in that, in that election. you look at, at Podemos, for example, the Podemos success as well with public less in, in, in Spain, you look at all of those cases of charismatic leaders and then, these parties being successful. And also you look at all the similar cases for the radical right as well. And you wonder, as I was saying before, you wonder is do we think that these leaders are charismatic because the parties are successful? Are other parties successful because of their leaders? And we don't really know much about this. We see these cases emerge, you know, now, and the, and again, but we don't have enough evidence to actually,
00:16:07 - or not there is some ality there. And, nothing that, that would really help us explain more about when these parties are successful.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis