Analysis of Left Parties in Europe

Seminar, Berlin, 21-22 June 2009

The left parties in Europe stand for social justice, for democracy, for a Europe in which people can peacefully live in dignity and social security. They argue with neoliberal politics of ruling élites and, besides, represent the interests of the majority of people in Europe. They can look back on the experiences of recent fights, like the resistance against the war in Iraq, against the neoliberal adjustment of the EU-constitutional contract or against the Bolkestein directive. However, up to now all this has not been yet sufficient to set an alternative project capable of hegemony against neoliberalism. This leads us to several questions:

1. In what does the concrete challenge of the present crisis exist for left parties in Europe? On which alliance structures and hegemonial structures is the power in the respective countries based? Which attempts are there to change this? What are the conditions for such a change?

2. Which main focus must analyses on left parties have, in order to be able to examine the real situation against the background of new duties?

3. Which should be the indicators to measure the results of left parties?

Organisation: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Brussels and Berlin

Venue: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, 10243 Berlin

Languages: English and German

Contact: Anna Striethorst

Publication: The Left in Europe - in Englisch, Spanisch, German