Crisis Elections, New Contenders and Government Formation
The parliamentary elections of 201516 in Greece, Spain and Portugal had extraordinary consequences, bringing repeat elections, unprecedented processes of government formation and uncharted government outcomes. Greece formed a coalition of radical left and radical right and Portugal its first government supported by the communist party while Spain took ten months to get a government. These developments are especially astonishing in three states which in previous decades were a byword for democratic stability. After the transitions following the fall of their dictatorships in the 1970s, Greece, Spain and Portugal established bipolar electoral competition and predictable patterns of government formation. But more recently, all three countries have been in the frontline of the economic crisis and austerity implementation, triggering electoral realignments and turning the radical left into a major player. This volume offers essential understanding of the political destabilisation of Southern Europe. It includes detailed analyses of all five crisis elections and of Greeces bailout referendum. It also provides studies of the five new contender parties (SYRIZA, Podemos, Ciudadanos, the Bloco Esquerda and the Portuguese Communist Party) which played a key role in government formation for the first time.
This book was originally published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.
Anna Bosco is an Associate Professor at the University of Trieste, Italy. She is co-editor of the journal South European Society and Politics and of the related Routledge book series.
Susannah Verney is an Assistant Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is co-editor of the journal South European Society and Politics and of the related Routledge book series.
South European Society and Politics series
Series editors:
Susannah Verney, University of Athens, Greece
Anna Bosco, University of Trieste, Italy
The parallel regime transitions of the 1970s, when Southern Europe was the vanguard of the third wave of democratisation, the impact of EU membership and Europeanisation and more recently, the regions central role in the eurozone crisis have all made Southern Europe a distinctive area of interest for social science scholars. The South European Society and Politics book series promotes new empirical research into the domestic politics and society of South European states. The series, open to a broad range of social science approaches, offers comparative thematic volumes covering the region as a whole and on occasion, innovative single-country studies. Its geographical scope includes both old and new Southern Europe, defined as Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey.
Is Turkey De-Europeanising?
Encounters with Europe in a Candidate Country
Edited by Alper Kaliber and Senem Aydin-Dzgit
The 2014 European Parliament Elections in Southern Europe
Edited by Hermann Schmitt and Eftichia Teperoglou
Economic Crisis and Austerity in Southern Europe: Threat or Opportunity for a Sustainable Welfare State?
Edited by Maria Petmesidou and Ana Marta Guill
Southern Europe and the Financial Earthquake
Coping with the First Phase of the International Crisis
Edited by Susannah Verney, Anna Bosco and Marina Costa Lobo
Europeanisation of Public Policy in Southern Europe
Comparative Political Economy from the 2000s to the Crisis
Edited by Canan Balkir, H. Tolga Bolukbasi and Ebru Ertugal
Transformations of the Radical Left in Southern Europe
Bringing Society Back In?
Edited by Myrto Tsakatika and Marco Lisi
Elections in Hard Times: Southern Europe 2010-11
Edited by Anna Bosco and Susannah Verney
Voters and Parties in the Spanish Political Space
Edited by Ignacio Snchez-Cuenca and Elias Dinas
New and Alternative Movements in Spain
The Left, Identity and Globalizing Processes
Edited by John Karamichas
Protest Elections and Challenger Parties
Edited by Susannah Verney and Anna Bosco
Crisis Elections, New Contenders and Government Formation
Breaking the Mould in Southern Europe
Edited by Anna Bosco and Susannah Verney
Crisis Elections, New Contenders and Government Formation
Breaking the Mould in Southern Europe
Edited by
Anna Bosco and Susannah Verney
First published 2018
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ISBN 13: 978-1-138-57243-0
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The publisher accepts responsibility for any inconsistencies that may have arisen during the conversion of this book from journal articles to book chapters, namely the possible inclusion of journal terminology.
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Contents
Citation Information
The chapters in this book were originally published in South European Society and Politics, volume 21, issue 4 (December 2016). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:
Chapter 1
From Electoral Epidemic to Government Epidemic: The Next Level of the Crisis in Southern Europe
Anna Bosco and Susannah Verney
South European Society and Politics, volume 21, issue 4 (December 2016), pp. 383406
Chapter 2
The January 2015 Parliamentary Election in Greece: Government Change, Partial Punishment and Hesitant Stabilisation
Yannis Tsirbas
South European Society and Politics, volume 21, issue 4 (December 2016), pp. 407426
Chapter 3
Realignment under Stress: The July 2015 Referendum and the September Parliamentary Election in Greece
Emmanouil Tsatsanis and Eftichia Teperoglou
South European Society and Politics, volume 21, issue 4 (December 2016), pp. 427450
Chapter 4
The 2015 Portuguese Legislative Election: Widening the Coalitional Space and Bringing the Extreme Left in
Elisabetta De Giorgi and Jos Santana-Pereira
