Left-Wing Electoral Movements in Europe in the 2010s in Response to Austerity and the Rise of the Far-Right

After the 2008 financial crisis, support for social democratic parties across Europe sharply declined while right-wing nationalist parties increased their share of support. The reason for the decline of social democratic parties in Europe can be partially attributed to their support of bailouts for financial institutions which shifted their private debt onto the public. Unpopular austerity measures were implemented to reduce this public debt by slashing government expenditures for many social services. Although the common economic consensus in the 2010s promoted the idea of austerity to make sure that governments could honor its debt obligations, the anti-austerity movements that formed in response to these policies sought to counter this narrative and challenge the political establishment. This thesis will look at the left-wing political parties that formed out the anti-austerity movements across Europe in the 2010s and examine if they provided voters an electorally viable alternative to the status-quo. I will argue that these left-wing parties were able to give voters a legitimate alternative to establishment social democratic parties with their progressive economic policies, but that they were not able to maintain their momentum. These parties failed to preserve their enthusiasm among voters because of the constraints of the EU, weak leadership, media bias, and party infighting.