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Fascist ideology and extreme right-wing parties in Western Europe.

Political and economic agendas of socialist parties in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France; 1980s.

Historical account of right-wing extremism in Germany since 1949. Summary in English p. 194.

The changes in the electoral & party system at the beginning of the 1990s had clear consequences on attitudes & behavior of Italian ordinary citizens. By looking at the feature of political competition through the analysis of several public opinion surveys, three main results can be shown. First, with respect to the self-placement on the Left-Right dimension, Italian voters "discovered the Right." Second, party locations on the Left-Right continuum became an unsettled aspect of the electoral competition: in particular, citizen perception of party placement changed according with the overall pattern of their alliances. Finally, several cues suggest that a new political entity appeared on the Italian political landscape: the coalition. From the voter perspective, Center-Left & Center-Right alliances (including their candidates) turned out to be among the main actors of the electoral competition. At least a fourth of Italian voters made use of a judgment criterion based on an amicus/hostis logic. Hence, we concluded that the (perceived) fight between party coalitions is exploited as an easy shortcut for electoral choice. 2 Tables, 6 Figures, 58 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article analyses government popularity in Italy during the post-1992 period. In earlier times public opinion approval of the government had little political & electoral relevance. With the enactment of a new electoral law & the change of the party system, the ensuing alternation in government of different political coalitions makes meaningful a study of what drives government approval. The analysis is grounded in the "reasoning voter/valence politics" paradigm, according to which government performance can reinforce or discount voters' party preference profiles. Two analyses are carried out, one at the aggregate level & one at the individual level. Regarding the former, a time-series model of monthly government ratings is fitted to both Centre-Left (1996-2001) & Centre-Right (2001-2006) governments, with findings showing that economic (consumers') expectations & international events mainly explain government popularity. Such conclusion is confirmed also from the individual level analysis: voters' approval of the government depends on the perception of economic conditions which, in turns, influences the assessment of government competence. Both outgoing Centre-Left (2001) & Centre-Right (2006) political coalitions were then defeated because of the low standing in the popular approval. Finally, the article discusses the importance of government leadership in contemporary Italian politics. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

The article compares the Norwegian & the German political debate on changes to the respective countries' citizenship laws. The Norwegian law will come into force in September 2006, while the German law was introduced in 2000. In citizenship laws we can find a contrast between an ethnic & cultural understanding of political community & a rights-based understanding. This contrast was hardly touched upon in the Norwegian debate. Among the Norwegian political parties there was broad agreement to carry on with the principle of ethnic decent. Moreover, all parties, with an exception of the Socialist Left Party (SV), wanted to introduce more restrictions on the established Norwegian practice to accept dual citizenship. The German debate dealt with the contrasting principles, & the conflict followed the left/right cleavages. The main difference found between the two countries refers to the left parties. Both with regard to the principle of ethnic decent/territorial principle & the acceptance of dual citizenship, the Social Democrats in Norway & Germany presented opposite standpoints. References. Adapted from the source document.

Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI); Partito Democratico di Sinistra (PDS). Discusses transformation of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) as portrayed in two books published in 1992 and 1997. Summary in English. "Dal PCI al PDS", Bologna, Il Mulino, 1992, by C. Baccetti and "Il PDS", Bologna, Il Mulino, 1997, by P. Ignazi.

An open debate where the eight central figures from the eight largest Norwegian political parties explain their foreign policy goals for the term 2009-2012. While all three leftwing parties stress the importance of climate change and equality, the criticism towards NATO intensifies when we moved from the center-left to the far left. The traditional center and right wing parties all emphasize the importance of free trade and globalization with an increased degree of skepticism in the center. The Progress Party stands out from the crowd by attacking foreign aid for increasing corruption and diminishing human rights in developing countries. L. Pitkaniemi

This article analyzes the "dramatizing mobilization" of the electorate that took place in the Italian general elections of 2001. The author suggests that the electoral campaign has been focused mainly on the choice "for" or "against" Berlusconi, which may have somewhat simplified the voting decision. However, it could also have stimulated the electoral participation, since turnout has been greater than expected. In the Center-Left, the "dramatizing mobilization" seems to have mainly favored the new aggregation called "Margherita." In the Center-Right, the same phenomenon helps explain why the "Casa delle Liberta" coalition has received a number of votes in the "plurality" vote significantly lower than the sum of the votes obtained by its individual parties in the "proportional" vote. Finally, the analysis suggests that the "dramatizing mobilization" brought a positive effect for the Center-Left coalition, stimulating mostly the vote "against" Berlusconi. 5 Tables, 4 Figures, 5 References. Adapted from the source document.