From Pariahs To Players? Left Parties In National Government; J.Olsen , D.Hough & M.Ko? The Norwegian Socialist Left Party; Office-Seekers in the Service of Policy?; J.Olsen The French Extreme Left and its Suspicion of Power; D.Bell Between a Rock and a Hard Place; The Governing Dilemmas of Rifondazione Comunista; J.Newell A Poisoned Chalice? Finland’s Left Alliance and the Perils of Government; R.Dunphy The Spanish United Left – The Belated and Troublesome Transition from Policy- to Office-Seeking; T.Verge Close to, but Still Out of, Government; The Swedish Vänsterpartiet; M.Koß The Danish Socialist People’s Party; Still Waiting After All These Years; D.A.Christensen From Pariah to Prospective Partner? The German Left Party’s Winding Path Towards Government; D.Hough Ready to Get Their Hands Dirty; The Socialist Party and Groenlinks in the Netherlands; D.Keith Conclusion. Left Parties in National Governments; J.Olsen , D.Hough & M.Ko?

D.S. BELL Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds, UK DAG ARNE CHRISTENSEN Researcher at the Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Studies at the University of Bergen, Norway RICHARD DUNPHY Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Dundee, UK DAN KEITH Doctoral Student, the University of Sussex, UK JAMES L. NEWELL Professor of Politics, University of Salford, UK TÀNIA VERGE Lecturer in Political and Social Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain