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Italy, Europe, The Left: The Transformation of Italian Communism and the European Imperative book cover

1st Edition

Italy, Europe, The Left The Transformation of Italian Communism and the European Imperative

By Vassilis Fouskas Copyright 1998
    269 Pages
    by Routledge

    269 Pages
    by Routledge

    Published in 1998. Was the Italian Communist Party (PCI) a typical Social Democratic party in tune with the programmatic principles of the Second International? What is the appropriate context within which the strategies of 'historic compromise' and Eurocommunism in the 1970s can be analyzed and understood? In what form and to what extent has the process of European integration and the crisis of Keynesianism contributed to the transformation of the party in 1989-91? What caused the collapse of the ruling political class of the First Italian Republic? Why did the transformed PCI, the PDS (Democratic Party of the Left), fail to lead the transition to the Second Italian Republic between 1992 and 1996? Is there any link between the party’s historical factions and the current divisions in the Italian Left? Is it possible to theorize and speculate upon these divisions? Italy, Europe, the Left seeks to answer these questions, debating conventional views and examining the extent to which the end of the Cold War has contributed to a redefinition of the Left’s identity in Italy and Europe. The exemplary methodological framework and the wider European perspective adopted throughout, make the book an indispensable reading in the field of Italian and European politics.

    Part 1: Roads to Modernity: The Post-War Strategy of the PCI 1943-1980  1. Modernization or Populist Insurrection? Consensus Pattern of Reconstruction, 1943-1950  2. Roads to Modernity, 1950-1980: Rapid Development, Social Mobility, Crisis and Compromise  Part 2: Polity Crisis, The European Imperative and the Transformation of Italian Communism 1980-1992  3. The Crisis of Keynesianism and its Impact on PCI Strategy, 1980-1987  4. New Revisionism and Alternative Discourses of Transformation  5. Governing the Party Crisis (1): The Retreat of New Revisionism in the 19th Congress (March 1990)  6. Governing the Party Crisis (2): Internal Realignments and Ambiguous Identities  7. New Revisionism vs. Communist Refoundation: Once Again on the Questione Salariale  8. A Tentative Conclusion.

    Biography

    Vassilis Fouskas

    ’...invaluable to anyone wishing to understand the vicissitudes of the Italian Communist Party in face of transformations of the modern world and the collapse of Communism.’ Professor Donald Sassoon, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, UK ’In an attempt to retrace the crisis and transformation of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into the Democratic party of the left, this essay sets it into the social, economic and especially political context - the crisis of the Italian political system - at the time, rejecting simplistic explanations.’ The International Spectator ’This is a stimulating contribution to the debate on the PCI/PDS...’ Political Studies ’...well-argued, well-researched and copiously footnoted.’ The Voice of the Turtle ’The author has used an impressive range of primary sources...’ South European Society & Politics
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