Introduction

Any study about the complex entity of the “left”2 faces the paradox of inevitable contextualization along national and/or cultural lines on the one hand and a conceptual delineation along ethical lines on the other. Put simply, the ambivalence lies in either a materialist approach concerned with objective conditions as they unfold over time or an idealist one focused on ahistorical considerations, framed in terms of morality and social justice (Flacks 1988; Davis 1999).