"Four Funerals and a Party?", Claudio M. Radaelli & Samuele Dossi
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Four Funerals and a Party? The Political Repertoire of the Nonviolent Radical Party
Claudio M. Radaelli and Samuele Dossi
University of Exeter
Abstract: The transformations brought about by changing patterns of representation, the role of the media in politics, and processes of Europeanization and globalisation have challenged political parties – especially parties of the West European left. We explore a political repertoire that – we submit – provides interesting lessons about how to address these transformations. In particular, we look at the Radical Party – established as the Partito Radicale in 1955 and known today as the Nonviolent, Transparty, Transnational Radical Party (www.radicalparty.org). We present and discuss its political repertoire, and critically appraise it. Our conclusion is that the Radical Party has managed to theorise and approach the four challenges quite pro-actively, possibly because most of these transformations were already in its genetic code and political tradition.
Keywords: Liberalism, nonviolence, party politics, Radical Party, transnational politics