When this book first published in 1990, several ‘new’ democracies were emerging in Southern Europe. The contributors to this volume focus on party systems in the democracies of Greece, Spain and Portugal since the end of their authoritarian regimes, and on Italy in the post-war period. This title will be of interest to students of politics, European Studies, and development studies.

List of tables; Contributors; Preface; 1. Southern European democracies on the road to consolidation: a comparative assessment of the role of political parties 2. Party elites and democratic consolidation: cross-national comparison of southern European experience 3. The consolidation of democracy in post-war Italy 4. The role of the Italian Communist Party in the consolidation of parliamentary democracy in Italy 5. Portugal: an open verdict 6. Regime consolidation in Spain: party, state, and society 7. From polarization to pluralism: regional-nationalist parties in the process of democratic consolidation in post-Franco Spain 8. Political parties and democratic consolidation in Greece 9. To be or not to be within the European Community: the party debate and democratic consolidation in Greece; Index