The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that a radical left family does exist, as March (2011), De Waele and Vieira (2012) recently argued. We will test the hypothesis of the gradual structuration of a new radical left family since 1989 by referring to a Rokkanian (i.e. genetic) approach. We will argue that most of the contemporary radical left parties belong to a divide that separates them from social democratic and green parties. In other words, this divide between social democracy, green and radical left is replacing the former divide between social democracy and communism which was formed on the side ‘workers’ of the ‘workers/owners’ cleavage (Lipset and Rokkan, 1967).
The emergence of this new divide will be analyzed through the three elements (empirical, normative and organizational/behavioral) of a ‘full’ cleavage (Bartolini and Mair, 1990). We will focus on the sociological, ideological and organizational profile of six cases: the Left Front in France, Die Linke in Germany, SP in Netherlands, the Left Bloc in Portugal, Syriza in Greece and VAS in Finland.
This inquiry will lead us to propose a typology of the radical left family with three components: the left of social democracy, the red-green alliance and the orthodox communists. While the first two are the core of the dynamics of family emergence, the third remains at the periphery. Within this ideal-typical landscape, we underline the homogenizer role of social democratic dissenters.
