'Paleontological Institute at The University of Kansas'
Abstract
This paper empirically examines the far left party family and its voters across Europe to fill a gap in the literature. It addresses the question of where far left parties and their voters occupy the ideological space on the left. The paper analyzes the choices offered by the far left party family in Western and Eastern Europe and studies to what extend far left parties match their voters' preferences. By using data from the Comparative Manifestos Project and the European Value Survey, I demonstrate that the far left party family and its voters can be clearly distinguished from the other competitors on the left in Western Europe. The demarcations are more blurred in the East with a great deal of issue overlap. Moreover, while the same issues of the far left party family in Western Europe are important to its voters, no such overlap is present in the East. Though far left voters can be found furthest to the left on the ideological scale, their respective party family is closer to the center with the social democratic parties filling the void on the far left. Clearly the political choices offered by far left parties in the East are not effective since they do not follow their voters' preferences, which has implications for the democratic process in the region. Parties are thought to be fundamental for democracy in Europe. They express the ideological preferences of citizens and convert them into public policy, thus representing their electorate, and they are vital for defining the choices available to their voters. When no meaningful choices are offered by parties, indifference or alienation can be the result. If there is no political entity such as parties to openly discuss, support and pursue these issues, voters have a more difficult time to develop their own far left positions. After all, it is the parties function to express and offer choices
