The communist story of European integration: Ideology and political strategy

Authors

  • Salvador Forner Universidad de Alicante
  • Heidy-Cristina Senante Universidad de Alicante

Keywords:

Communist Party of Spain, French Communist Party, Italian Communist Party, Portuguese Communist Party, European integration, European communism.

Abstract

This article analyzes the stories about European integration of the communist parties of Western Europe: Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. The objective of the work focuses on the study of the similarities and differences of these political actors in the perception of the integration process from its beginnings in the early 1950s until the 1970s. It is based on the hypothesis that the attitude towards Europe of the various communist parties is related to a common ideology but also to the respective national policies and to the influence that the community development itself exerted on them. Through a comparative methodology that analyzes the attitude of the communist parties before the different stages of the integration process, results and conclusions are obtained that highlight the tension between ideology and political strategy as an relevant explanatory factor of the political behavior of the communist parties in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal in the face of European integration.

Published

2020-03-21

Issue

Section

ARTICLES