Outsider Parties

Abstract

This special issue discusses parties in Europe which by the nature of their ideology, rhetoric and positions on government participation, have placed themselves and/or been placed by others, ‘outside’ the sphere of potential governing parties, but have subsequently come in from the cold and entered government. Following an introduction by the editors, it features articles examining the governing experiences of such ‘outsider parties’, including pieces by Kurt Richard Luther on the Austrian Freedom Party; Daniele Albertazzi, Duncan McDonnell and James Newell on the Northern League and Rifondazione Comunista in Italy; Tim Bale and Richard Dunphy on radical left parties in coalition administrations; Anwen Elias and Filippo Tronconi on autonomist parties in government.