Is today’s left really new? How has the European radical left evolved?

Giorgos Charalambous answers these questions by looking at three moments of rapid political change - the late 1960s to late 1970s; the turn of the millennium; and post-2008. He challenges the conventional understanding of a ‘new left’, drawing out continuities with earlier movements and parties.

Charalambous examines the ‘Long ‘68’, symbolised by the May uprisings in France, which saw the rise of new left forces and the widespread criticism by younger radical activists of traditional communist and socialist parties. He puts this side by side with the turn of the millennium when the Global Justice Movement rose to prominence and changed the face of the international left, and also the period after the financial crash of 2008 and the rise of anti-austerity politics which initiated the most recent wave of new left parties such as Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece. 

With a unique ‘two-level’ perspective, Charalambous approaches the left through both social movements and party politics, looking at identities, rhetoric and organization, and bringing a fresh new approach to radical history, as well as assessing challenges for both activists and scholars.

Giorgos Charalambous is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Department of Politics and Governance, University of Nicosia. He is also the co-convenor of the Left Radicalism Specialist Group at the Political Studies Association. Charalambous is the author of European Integration and the Communist Dilemma (Ashgate, 2013), and has co-edited Party-Society Relations in Cyprus (Routledge, 2016) and Left Radicalism and Populism in Europe (Routledge, 2019).

‘Once considered in fast decline, the radical left has acquired vigor and relevance in Europe in reaction to several crises and related waves of contentious politics. Bridging social movements studies, this interesting volume investigates the identity, rhetoric and organisation of the radical left, looking at the legacies of the past, but also to the capacity for innovation during three recent waves of protest, reflecting on challenges and achievements’
Donatella della Porta, Professor of Political Science, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence

'A rare and nothing less than perfect example of the Radical Left in Europe. It not only helps one to understand the cauldron of European politics but also contributes to a much needed (re) interpretation of the political itself'
Michalis Spourdalakis, Emeritus Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

'The concept of 'newness' framing Charalambous' sophisticated historical sociology, magnifies the significance of the New Left for subsequent mobilisations and gives serious consideration to anarchism in movement activism'
Ruth Kinna, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University