Divided They Fell

Crisis and the Collapse of Europe’s Centre Left Sean McDaniel

“A truly fabulous book on a supremely important topic. Required reading for all those who have turned intuitively to the centre-left for their political inspiration and been so sadly disappointed – and for all those struggling to make sense of that disappointment and the failure it represents.” – Colin Hay, Sciences Po, Paris

“In this lively and highly relevant book, drawing on interviews with key players, McDaniel demonstrates that parties and their ideologies matter: after the global financial crisis, centre-left parties in France and the UK got stuck, wedded to ideas that reduced their ability to respond creatively to political challenges. Students, scholars and politicians can all learn important lessons from this book about what not to do in a crisis.”

– Alan Finlayson, University of East Anglia

Why has Europe’s centre-left failed to respond to the crisis of neoliberalism in Europe? Divided They Fell examines the failures of mainstream politics, and in particular the inability of the centre-left to respond to the global financial crisis more effectively. By exploring the cases of the UK Labour Party and France’s Parti Socialiste, the book investigates the role of, and interplay between, institutional intra-party dynamics, the parties’ ideational landscapes and the wider political economy in shaping their responses to the crisis.

FEBRUARY 2023

HB £65.00 978-1-78821-605-0

224 pages | 234 x 156 mm Building Progressive Alternatives

JULY 2023

PB £29.99 978-1-78821-620-3

224 pages | 234 x 156mm