The Financial Crisis and the Curse of Latvian Left Parties

This chapter provides a short explanation of the fall of the Latvian left from historical prominence to modern infamy, followed by an analysis of the surprising lack of resurrection of the left in spite of harsh austerity measures imposed in the Latvia, and the impact of the Latvian cross-ideological consensus on the future of the EU. As a result, three central arguments are presented in the context of the financial crisis and the left. First, Latvian politics saw a self-induced relabelling of some parties from ethnic issues to social democratic ones. Second, some social democratic politicians and their policies were incorporated into government. Third, economic social democracy becoming a part of catch-all programmes of Latvian political parties.