Anna Bosco

Electoral Epidemic: The Political Cost of Economic Crisis in Southern Europe, 2010–11

This article introduces a collection of essays on the elections of 2010–11 in Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot community. It examines the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis on electoral trends in the era of the Greek and Portuguese bailouts. After briefly examining the crisis economies, it investigates patterns of abstention, incumbent punishment and opposition success, including the rise of regional, anti-party, far-right and racist parties. The article concludes, following Krastev (Journal of Democracy, vol. 13, no. 3, 2002, pp. 39–53), that the crisis is creating ‘democracy without choices’ in Southern Europe with potentially destabilising consequences throughout the region.

Living Parallel Lives: Italy and Greece in an Age of Austerity

The economic crisis has triggered a process of political convergence between Italy and Greece. The simultaneous downfall of the Italian and Greek governments, following the public withdrawal of European confidence in their ability to handle the crisis, was followed by the establishment of technocrat-led governments based on parliamentary ‘super-majorities’ and then by ‘protest elections’, marked by unprecedented levels of electoral volatility. By apparently ending bipolarism, the crisis has completely changed patterns of national government formation and resulted in experiments with unusual government types. Both political systems have entered a transitional phase whose outcome is anything but certain, especially in the continuing context of economic crisis.

What Changes in South European Parties? A Comparative Introduction

Party changes are a traditional topic of research and a major political issue within European democracies. Country-based studies and cross-national projects have explored the transformation of poli...

From Electoral Epidemic to Government Epidemic: The Next Level of the Crisis in Southern Europe

Abstract With the elections of 2015–16 in Greece, Spain and Portugal, the political fallout from the economic crisis in Southern Europe reached a new level. An overview of the new electoral arenas and party systems is followed by an investigation of the paths to government formation. Unprecedented events during (multiple) processes of government formation, uncharted outcomes in government types and governing party identities, and the necessity to repeat elections are three features defining a new syndrome that first appeared in Greece but has now spread to Iberia. In Southern Europe the road to incumbency has become arduous and the risk of government instability high.

Elections in hard times : southern Europe 2010-11

1. Electoral Epidemic: The Political Cost of Economic Crisis in Southern Europe, 2010 - 11 2. The 2010 Regional Elections in Italy: Another Referendum on Berlusconi 3. The Turkish Cypriot Presidential Election of April 2010: Normalisation of Politics 4. The Eurozones First Post-bailout Election: The 2010 Local Government Contest in Greece 5. The 2010 Regional Election in Catalonia: A Multilevel Account in an Age of Economic Crisis 6. The 2011 Portuguese Presidential Elections: Incumbency Advantage in Semi-presidentialism? 7. The Twilight of the Berlusconi Era: Local Elections and National Referendums in Italy, May and June 2011 8. In the Whirlwind of the Economic Crisis: Local and Regional Elections in Spain, May 2011 9. Disengaging Citizens: Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Cyprus, 22 May 2011 10. After the Bailout: Responsibility, Policy, and Valence in the Portuguese Legislative Election of June 2011 11. No Crisis, No Change: The Third AKP Victory in the June 2011 Parliamentary Elections in Turkey 12. The 2011 General Election in Spain: The Collapse of the Socialist Party

Parties, Politics and Publishers in Zapatero's Spain

Anyone familiar with the political publishing market in Spain knows that it is saturated with pamphlets. Most of the books on Spanish politics are written by supporters of the two main parties—the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the Popular Party (PP)—who offer biased accounts of political events devoid of analysis. In this situation, works that deal thoroughly with specific topics, especially edited ones, are less common than in other South European countries, not to mention in the UK and the USA. The exceptions include the publishers Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) and Fundación Alternativas, both based in Madrid.