Introduction

This chapter sets out the aims of the Handbook in presenting some of the best and most recent scholarship on the radical left in Europe, summarises existing literature and introduces the chapters. The contributors focus on the development of the radical left from 2000 until the beginning of 2020 (prior to the onset of Covid-19). The Handbook adopts a pan-European approach to ensure a broader scope and explores a new empirical territory. It presents detailed information on the contemporary radical left in nineteen countries including the most significant RLPs as well as under-investigated parties in Iceland, the UK and Moldova. It focuses on analysing which aspects of the radical left are genuinely nationally distinct, require comparative analysis or are best understood in transnational terms. It addresses the need to analyse and critique categorisations and hypotheses advanced in emerging research on the radical left. Therefore, it seeks to shape, rather than simply re-state, the emerging field of literature. Moreover, it presents a wealth of comparable data on a wide number of cases to provide a basis for future studies.