The fall of the Berlin Wall 26 years later: the state of the left in Portugal, 2015-2016

Abstract

The global and economic crisis has had potentially disturbing consequences for democ-ratic political systems, especially in Southern Europe, an area characterized by growing electoral volatility, significant party system change, the emergence of new political par-ties, the mobilisation of new social movements, increasing governmental instability and a decrease in satisfaction towards democracy (Bermeo and Bartels, 2014; Freire et al. 2015; Matthijs ,2014; Freire, Lisi and Viegas, 2015; Freire and Lisi, 2016b).