Recent work on Italian cinema

The end of the Cold War, the globalization of markets, and the end of Fordist models of production have all radically changed the context within which the European parties of the Left operate. This article, through an analysis of a broad range of recently published literature on New Labour in Britain and the Democratici di sinistra in Italy (and its predecessor, the PDS), examines the way these transformations have affected the two parties in recent years. Both have for some time been involved in processes of gradual adaptation of their economic and social policies. The texts analysed reveal that within the Left itself there are diverging perceptions of the value of this adaptation. In one view it represents a 'third way' between subordination to neo-liberalism and a social-democratic model now regarded as obsolete. A more critical view sees the changes as giving way to the technocratic Right.