The ascendance of austerity policies and the protests they have generated have had a deep impact on the shape of contemporary politics. The stunning electoral successes of SYRIZA in Greece, Podemos in Spain and the Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) in Italy, alongside the quest for a more radical left in countries such as the UK and the US, bear witness to a new wave of parties that draws inspiration and strength from social movements. The rise of movement parties challenges simplistic expectations of a growing separation between institutional and contentious politics and the decline of the left. Their return demands attention as a way of understanding both contemporary socio-political dynamics and the fundamentals of political parties and representation. Bridging social movement and party politics studies, within a broad concern with democratic theories, this volume presents new empirical evidence and conceptual insight into these topical socio-political phenomena, within a cross-national comparative perspective.

Donatella della Porta is Director of the Centre on Social Movement Studies and Dean of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Scuola Normale Superiore Joseba Fernández is an independent researcher, formerly of the Centre on Social Movement Studies at the European University Institute Hara Kouki is a Research Associate at the European University Institute (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies) Lorenzo Mosca is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Scuola Normale Superiore