When this book first published in 1990, several 'new' democracies were emerging in Southern Europe. The contributors to this volume focus on party systems in the democracies of Greece, Spain and Portugal since the end of their authoritarian regimes, and on Italy in the post-war period. This title will be of interest to students of politics, European Studies, and development studies.

Preface; Chapter 1 Southern European democracies on the road to consolidation: a comparative assessment of the role of political Part ies, Geoffrey Pridham; Chapter 2 Part y elites and democratic consolidation: cross-national comparison of southern European experience, Gianfranco Pasquino; Chapter 3 The consolidation of democracy in post-war Italy, Hine David; Chapter 4 The role of the Italian Communist Part y in the consolidation of parliamentary democracy in Italy, Donald Sassoon; Chapter 5 Portugal: an open verdict, Ken Gladdish; Chapter 6 Regime consolidation in Spain: Part y, state, and society, Richard Gillespie; Chapter 7 From polarization to pluralism: regional-nationalist Part ies in the process of democratic consolidation in post-Franco Spain, Ulrike Liebert; Chapter 8 Political Part ies and democratic consolidation in Greece, Kevin Featherstone; Chapter 9 To be or not to be within the European Community: the Part y debate and democratic consolidation in Greece, Susannah Vemey;