Left Parties in National Governments

Left Parties in National Governments analyzes why Left Parties enter national government, what they do when they get there and what effect this has on both their programmatic positions and their electoral prospects. The book looks at how we should expect parties to the left of the main social democratic actor – what we term here as Left Parties – to behave when government participation becomes a possibility. It includes nine detailed case studies, encompassing every Left Party in Europe that has either been part of a national coalition or taken on support party status. The contributors also look at parties – in Germany and the Netherlands – that have thus far been interested observers without actually taking the plunge. This book is a systematic insight into the complex relationship Left parties have with governing at the national level.