The new left reformist parties within the framework of changing political paradigm in Europe: The cases of Greece, France and Germany

This thesis aims to compare the emergence and historical evolution of the new left reformist parties in Europe in the post-USSR era with regard to structural political economic and political institutional conditions, as well as social mobilization and social protest dynamics. To explore the phenomenon of new left reformist parties, the cases include Syriza of Greece, the Left Front of France and Die Linke of Germany are analyzed. The case selection illustrates a particular political constellation, which reflects the erosion of neoliberal hegemony that is materialized in competing discourses and political actors, as well as in the nature/depth of the financialized capitalist crisis. According to this study, the main factor that plays a role in the emergence and development of the new leftist reformist parties is the failure of social democratic / socialist parties to cope with and overcome the neoliberal constellation. In the absence of a reliable alternative to capitalist social and economic order, a vacuum occurred in the left due to a shift of the social democratic parties to the right, with the adaption of the neoliberal agenda. New left reformist parties try to fill this gap. In the age of austerity, in the peripheral countries, new left reformist parties find an opportunity to have a success in the elections, with the failure of social democratic parties to respond to the social and representation crises of neoliberalism. However, in the core countries, the rise of populist right parties with the externalization of the crisis, resulted in stopping the rise of the new left reformist parties.