The Euro crisis and changing party systems in southern Europe

Abstract

In this chapter, we intend to present a brief comparative outline of the significant changes in party systems in southern Europe, focusing on new political parties and examining the main features of the new party system in terms of volatility, fragmentation, dealignment movements, and electoral geography. We start with a short theoretical discussion on the nature of political parties and party systems in southern Europe; afterwards, the main parties in southern Europe are examined. This section is followed by a brief review of the development of party systems in southern Europe and an analysis of party system change between 2009 and 2019. We end the chapter by drawing some conclusions.