European Party Politics in Times of Crisis

Reviews / Votes

'This is a comprehensive analysis of how the Great Recession has shaped the politics of Europe. Employing original data for fifteen countries, the authors provide an invaluable guide to the structure of democratic competition and the rise of a cultural cleavage over the past decade. The result is an compelling analysis that is required reading for students of Europe and democratic politics more generally.' Gary Marks, Burton Craige Professor of Political Science and Robert Schuman Fellow, European University Institute 'Drawing on new and extensive datasets, Hutter and Kriesi's volume highlights how the Great Recession impacted on the structure of political conflict, often serving as a catalyst of party system change, but that the impact varied (sometimes significantly) across the continent. European Party Politics in Times of Crises is a landmark publication that deserves to be on the bookshelves of all scholars of party politics.' Tim Haughton, University of Birmingham 'This impressive volume investigates the impact of the financial crisis on the electoral and protest arenas of European countries. It stands out from similar attempts by combining meticulous analysis of media data with exceptional sensitivity to the timing of the economic crisis in relation to political developments, the strategies of political actors and the specific issues that dominated and polarised the public debates. The book documents the continuity and transformation of the political space in Europe and the increasingly divergent regional patterns. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how European parties and ordinary citizens reacted to the crisis, and how the competition between cultural, economic and political understandings of the challenges led to a new socio-political configuration on the continent.' Zsolt Enyedi, Central European University