Contesting Capitalism?: Left Parties and European Integration

This book is a comparative and historical study of the impact of European integration upon the policies, ideology and future prospects of Left parties across the European Union. It is the first such study to focus upon parties to the left of social democracy—communist, "new left" and "green left" parties. The book highlights the broad range of responses to European integration that these parties have formulated—from pro-integrationist or pro-federalist positions to staunchly anti-integrationist views. It sets the emergence of such diversity in historical and theoretical context, paying attention to a broad range of factors that have influenced the evolution of the parties' European policies. Richard Dunphy examines the Left parties' views on how to build an "alternative Europe" that goes beyond free market capitalism.

This book is a comparative and historical study of the impact of European integration upon the policies, ideology and future prospects of Left parties across the European Union. It is the first such study to focus upon parties to the left of social democracy—communist, "new left" and "green left" parties. The book highlights the broad range of responses to European integration that these parties have formulated—from pro-integrationist or pro-federalist positions to staunchly anti-integrationist views. It sets the emergence of such diversity in historical and theoretical context, paying attention to a broad range of factors that have influenced the evolution of the parties' European policies. Richard Dunphy examines the Left parties' views on how to build an "alternative Europe" that goes beyond free market capitalism.

Richard Dunphy is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Dundee.