'This impressive volume investigates the impact of the financial crisis on the electoral and protest arenas of European countries. It stands out from similar attempts by combining meticulous analysis of media data with exceptional sensitivity to the timing of the economic crisis in relation to political developments, the strategies of political actors and the specific issues that dominated and polarised the public debates. The book documents the continuity and transformation of the political space in Europe and the increasingly divergent regional patterns. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how European parties and ordinary citizens reacted to the crisis, and how the competition between cultural, economic and political understandings of the challenges led to a new socio-political configuration on the continent.' Zsolt Enyedi, Central European University
Part I. Theoretical Framework and Context: 1. Crises and the transformation of the national political space in Europe Hanspeter Kriesi and Swen Hutter; 2. Economic and political crises: the context of critical elections Hanspeter Kriesi and Swen Hutter; 3. The media content analysis and cross-validation Swen Hutter and Theresa Gessler; Part II. Country Studies: 4. Spain – out with the old: the restructuring of Spanish politics Guillem Vidal and Irene Sánchez-Vítores; 5. Greece – punctuated equilibrium: the restructuring of Greek politics Argyrios Altiparmakis; 6. Italy – the end of bipolarism: restructuration in an unstable party system Johannes Karremans, Giorgio Malet and Davide Morisi; 7. Portugal – a tale of apparent stability and surreptitious transformation Frederico Ferreira da Silva and Mariana S. Mendes; 8. Hungary – a Hungarian crisis or just a crisis in Hungary? Theresa Gessler and Anna Kyriazi; 9. Poland – 'modern' versus 'normal': the increasing importance of the cultural divide Paulina Salek and Agnieszka Sztajdel; 10. Romania – polity contestation and the resilience of mainstream parties Endre Borbáth; 11. Latvia – an ever-wider gap: the ethnic divide in Latvian party politics Edgars Eihmanis; 12. Austria, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland: old and new winning formulas of the populist radical right Jasmine Lorenzini and Mathilde van Ditmars; 13. Restructuring British and German party politics in times of crisis Björn Bremer and Julia Schulte-Cloos; 14. Ireland – limited restructuration in the poster child of austerity Swen Hutter and Giorgio Malet; Part III. Conclusions: 15. Diverging Europe: the political consequences of the crises in a comparative perspective Swen Hutter, Argyrios Altiparmakis and Guillem Vidal; 16. Conclusion: a critical juncture for the structuration of party systems? Hanspeter Kriesi.