Cartelisation, organisational legacies and radical left politics in government: a comparative study of AKEL in Cyprus and Syriza in Greece

The literature largely lacks an organisational perspective of government impact on radical left and other radical parties in Western Europe, although they have increasingly participated in national governments. How and why do radical parties respond organisationally to government and government seeking? Do different party models provide distinct resistances to government challenges? This study applies cartel theory to two most similar cases, two European radical left parties that have led the government recently: the Cypriot AKEL (2008–2013) and the Greek Syriza (2015–2019). First, the study explores the power distribution and the interaction between the three faces of the party organisation in managing party and government affairs. Second, it examines the relevance of organisational legacies as intermediating effects on party organisation, in office-seeking contexts. Due to their preexisting relations with the state and organisational structures, the two cases diverge in terms of the magnitude of cartelisation.