Historical Euroscepticism Compared: The Case of the French and Italian Communist Parties in the Cold War
Historical Euroscepticism Compared: The Case of the French and Italian Communist Parties in the Cold War

Author(s): Giacomo Benedetto
Subject(s): Governance, Government/Political systems, History of Communism, Cold-War History, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Centar za politološka istraživanja
Summary/Abstract: Euroscepticism has, in recent years, become a focus for research by political scientists interested in the politics of antagonism and position- taking among outlier parties. However, Euroscepticism (applied retrospectively) is a long-term phenomenon, which dates back to the early stages of European integration in the late 1940s. Much of the empirical work has taken the form of single case studies, rather than following a comparative framework. Batory and Sitter (2004), Marks and Wilson (2000), and Marks, Wilson and Ray (2002) are notably different in dealing with party families over the period of more than a decade. They conclude that ideology and cleavages are the main explanatory factors in determining the orientations of political parties and party families towards the European Community (EC).

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