Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : social movements and radical politics in the European periphery : a world-systems analysis / Beltrán Roca, Emma Martin-Diaz and Iban Diaz-Parra -- Radical left in Portugal and Spain (1960-2010) / Julio Pérez Serrano -- Greece and Italy after the Second World War : contentious politics, cycles of protest and radical left / Nikos Serdedakis, Elisabetta della Corte and Markos Vogiatzoglou -- Indignados, municipalism and Podemos : mobilization and political cycle in Spain after the great recession / Iban Diaz-Parra, Emma Martin-Diaz y Beltrán Roca -- Political opportunities, threats, and opportunism : examining Syriza's rise in crisis-ridden Greek politics / Kostas Kanellopoulos -- Building the "contraption" : anti-austerity movements and political alternative in Portugal / Elísio Estanque, Hermes Augusto Costa and Dora Fonseca -- When the spring is not coming : the political space left empty by the Italian leftist movements during the contemporary economic crisis / Luca Queirolo Palmas and Simone Castellani -- Conclusions : learning from the economic crisis and the protest cycle in the south of Europe : implications for social movements and the left / Emma Martin-Diaz, Iban Diaz-Parra and Beltrán Roca.