Malta's Labour party and the politics of hegemony

Abstract

This paper will analyze the successes and failures of Malta’s Labour Party since independence (1964), giving due attention to variables such the economy, class structure, politics, ideology and international factors. Particular emphasis will be given to factors such as Malta’s dual-party dominance, patronage and Catholic influence. I argue that the Labour Party has failed to be hegemonic since the 1970s, and that its current strategy of politics without adversaries is akin to convenient alliance-building for electoral purposes, rather than to the construction of a hegemonic formation for social change.