Renewal and Tradition: Comparing Italian Radical Left Parties through their Middle-Level Elites

The article analyses the current Italian radical left parties—Federation of the Left and Left Ecology and Freedom—to understand how they are similar, how they differ and why. The analysis is based on data from 644 responses of party delegates gathered in 2010 at the first national conventions of the two parties. The paper (i) reconstructs the complex origin of the two parties; (ii) compares their organisational structures; (iii) analyses their ability to involve their members in the party decision-making process; and (iv) examines the relationships between the two parties and organisations of civil society.