Cohort: POLS 41
Topic of the thesis: Disentangling political competition on the Left: Radical Left Parties and their competitors in Western Europe
Abstract: This project, made up of a collection of four studies, investigates political competition on the left in Western Europe, with a specific focus on Radical Left Parties (RLPs) after the fall of the Soviet Union and their relationship with Social Democratic Parties (SDPs) and Green Parties (GPs). Departing from the comprehensive research agenda outlined by Escalona and colleagues (2023) and drawing on the widely accepted definition of RLPs developed by March and Mudde (2005), the project addresses four interconnected research questions that remain insufficiently answered in the existing literature.
The first study examines inter-party dynamics inside the left field of political competition, namely between RLPs, SDPs and GPs, and how the relative position of competing parties affects RLPs' electoral performance. The second study keeps attention to the supply side of political competition from policy positions to party candidates. It investigates how they differ from their Green and Social Democratic counterparts across European democracies, drawing on the Comparative Candidate Survey data (2013–2024). The third study addresses a persistent empirical puzzle in the literature, that is, the gap between RLPs' electoral potential (approximately 11%) and their actual vote share (approximately 7%) (Visser et al., 2014), by mapping voters' propensity to vote for RLPs and identifying patterns of inward and outward electoral overlap using the European Election Study (2004–2024). The fourth study turns to local government, constructing an original dataset of Italian municipal elections (2001–2025) to examine the conditions under which participation in local government proves electorally beneficial or detrimental for RLPs. Taken together, the four studies contribute to a more systematic and empirically grounded understanding of RLPs as strategic actors navigating programmatic, representational, electoral, and governmental dimensions of political competition in contemporary Europe.
Research interests: (Radical) Left politics, Young people, Party politics, Voting Behaviour, Quantitative Analysis
Graduated from: University of Milan
Degrees obtained: BA in International Politics, Law and Economics (IPLE) and MA in Economics and Political Science (EPS)
E-mail address: lorenzo.colombo07@universitadipavia.it
