Μεταβαλλόμενοι στόχοι, μεταβαλλόμενες συμμαχίες: Το ΚΚΕ και ο κομματικός ανταγωνισμός στη μεταπολίτευση

Abstract

From 1974 to 2009, the Greek Communist Party had realized almost all possible alliances, that is, with almost all existing political parties. Unlike common interpretations regarding single-issue alliances or the alliances regarding one specific electoral cycle, this paper attempts to provide a comprehensive, synthetic interpretation of the Greek communists’ strategic alliances. Considering the party goals, as well as their change as a key variable for the interpretation of its alliance strategy, we examine the influence of a series of factors, both structural and contingent. In the first place, we demonstrate the limits of interpretations related to the sociology of voting, the history, the differentiation in terms of public policy and morality. We then study how the structure of political opportunities of the party system, the intra-party affairs and the situational determinants configure the party’s objectives. Being officeseeking and policy-seeking until 1991, the Communist Party becomes vote-seeking since then, due to several intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as the electoral decline, the internal divisions, the collapse of the USSR, public funding and its antagonistic relationship with the party known as Synaspismos (SYN): the Coalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology. The change in the party goals resulted in a radical shift from the alliance strategy to the autonomous descent.