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party family as being the only effective and democratic remedy for the evil of modern society in the shape of fascism and neo-liberalism. Not only do politics and science coexist in this narrow volume, but the normative point of view also seems to cloud the analytical judgement here and there, leaving the reader with the impression of a politically skewed perspective. Aside from this, the 12 contributions convey rather descriptive country portraits instead of being profound analytical studies. How could it be any different in a volume that lacks a leading question? Basically, most of the contributions re-narrate the development of the radical left in their home economic and political settings, beginning somewhere between the most recent elections (e.g. the contribution of Mihalis Panayiotakis on Greece) and the 1970s (such as Jean-Numa Ducange’s discussion of French parties). With that said, it has been encouraging to see that more than one author has endeavoured to go beyond mere descriptive claims either by making suggestions how to politically exploit the era of austerity or by taking a glance at the (desired and likely) future trends of the radical left in a specific country. Unfortunately, more than one outlook has – due to the short temporal horizon – already become obsolete, such as in Antoni Domenech, Gustavo Buster and Daniel Raventós’ question: ‘Can the left win the 2015 general elections?’ (p. 59, see also p. 65). A wider perspective would have given the volume some value beyond today. Suffering from its political ambitions, the volume presents a whole range of concise portraits of radical left parties within their respective home countries in the era of austerity. If the reader can accept this – as well as the eclectic case selection (from the East, only the PostYugoslav countries are represented; Germany is included, but not Austria or Switzerland) – then they will enjoy this compilation. What they will not find, though, is in-depth, theory-driven analyses of the heterogeneous relatives of the radical left family. As the volume lacks a synoptic or truly comparative chapter, it proves difficult to make sense of the numerous single-case studies. The tremendous ideological, historical and electoral heterogeneity of the radical left and the way in which this has influenced the national reaction patterns to the crisis as well as the parties’ chances for success are – still – largely concealed.