DOI: / The Golden Dawn s Nationalist Solution

Transcription

1 DOI: / The Golden Dawn s Nationalist Solution

2 Reform and Transition in the Mediterranean Series Editor: Ioannis N. Grigoriadis Dr. Ioannis N. Grigoriadis is Assistant Professor and Jean Monnet Chair of European Studies in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Bilkent University, Turkey, and Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Greece. His research interests include European, Middle Eastern politics, nationalism and democratization. His recent publications include Instilling Religion in Greek and Turkish Nationalism: A Sacred Synthesis (2012) and Trials of Europeanization: Turkish Political Culture and the European Union (2009). The series of political and economic crises that befell many Mediterranean countries has renewed scholarly attention on this important region. This series aims to provide a venue for the comparative study of reform and transition in the Mediterranean within and across the region s political, cultural, and religious boundaries. In an effort to explore the structural conditions of reform and transition, as well as the interrelations between politics, history, and culture in this volatile region, the series draws on interdisciplinary approaches, including perspectives from political science, history, sociology, economics, anthropology, and area and cultural studies. Titles include: Sofia Vasilopoulou and Daphne Halikiopoulou THE GOLDEN DAWN S NATIONALIST SOLUTION Explaining the Rise of the Far Right in Greece DOI: /

3 The Golden Dawn s Nationalist Solution : Explaining the Rise of the Far Right in Greece Sofia Vasilopoulou University of York, United Kingdom and Daphne Halikiopoulou University of Reading, United Kingdom DOI: /

4 THE GOLDEN DAWN S NATIONALIST SOLUTION Copyright Sofia Vasilopoulou and Daphne Halikiopoulou, Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. First published in 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: PDF ISBN: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. First edition: doi: /

5 Contents List of Illustrations Series Editor s Preface Acknowledgements vi vii viii 1 Introduction 1 2 The Rise of the Golden Dawn in the Context of the Greek Crisis 15 3 Who Supports the Golden Dawn? An Analysis of the Disillusioned Voter 31 4 The Myth of Social Decadence: The Golden Dawn s Populist Nation-Statism 50 5 The Myth of National Rebirth: The Golden Dawn s Populist Ultra-nationalism 64 6 Conclusion 78 Appendix 89 References 91 Indexes 107 DOI: / v

6 List of Illustrations Figures 2.1 Worldwide governance indicators, Greece Predicted probability of voting for the Golden Dawn at different levels of educational attainment Effect of dissatisfaction on the probability of voting for the Golden Dawn as position on the left-right dimension changes Predicted probability of voting for the Golden Dawn at different levels of support for the EU 46 Tables 2.1 Golden Dawn election results since Municipal election results Local election results PASOK and New Democracy election results and seats Greek national election results The impact of socio-economic characteristics on propensity to vote for the Golden Dawn The impact of attitudinal characteristics on propensity to vote for the Golden Dawn Main criteria for the selection of your vote choice in the recent elections 47 A.1 Overlap in PTVs of Golden Dawn and other Greek parties 90 vi DOI: /

7 Series Editor s Preface Acute economic and political crises are usually positively correlated with the rise of political extremism and antisystemic political movements. This has been confirmed in the context of the European sovereign debt crisis, which has contributed to the rise of far left and far right parties throughout the European Union. Nevertheless, it is only in Greece that this crisis has led to the emergence of a sizable neo-nazi political party. The Golden Dawn moved from the fringes of Greek politics and 0.29 per cent of the vote in the 2009 elections to 6.97 per cent in the May 2012 elections. This has sent shockwaves across Greece and beyond, not least because of the fact that Greece was one of the European countries hardest hit by German occupation in the Second World War. Despite public outcry and the arrest of its leading political cadre for their involvement in multi-fold criminal activities, the party has been able to form a solid electoral support base that has voted for the party in the June 2012 parliamentary elections and the May 2014 European elections. The Golden Dawn phenomenon has fuelled the debate about Greek exceptionalism in the context of the European crisis and invited scholarly discussions about its permissive conditions in Greek political culture and society. This book by Dr. Daphne Halikiopoulou and Dr. Sofia Vasilopoulou comprises a timely and enlightening scholarly contribution to the study of one of the most vexing dimensions of the Greek economic and political crisis. DOI: / vii

8 Acknowledgements This book reflects years of research on far right politics and on the Golden Dawn more specifically. It is the product of a long-standing collaboration and co- authorship. Versions of the arguments and materials presented in this book were initially published in other outlets. Certain sub-sections of Chapter 2 were initially published in South European Society and Politics (2013, 18(4): ). Other sub-sections of the same chapter were first published in Giusto, H., Kitching, D. and Rizzo, S. (eds.) (2013) The Changing Faces of Populism: Systemic Challengers in Europe and the US (Brussels: Foundation for European Progressive Studies). Finally, sub-sections of the conclusion were previously published in Political Instability and the Persistence of Religion in Greece: The Policy Implications of the Cultural Defence Paradigm (2013), RECODE Paper Series, Augsburg: European Science Foundation, ISSN Some of the overall ideas and themes published in the book first appeared in the LSE EUROPP blog. We are grateful for permission to reproduce these materials. The arguments put forward in this book have been reformulated to reflect methodological challenges. For their support and input, we thank John Breuilly, Katjana Gattermann and Marco Steenbergen. We are grateful to Margarita Markoviti for assisting with the coding of a large number of Golden Dawn materials. We thank the University of York for granting financial support to make this coding possible. viii DOI: /

9 Acknowledgements ix Needless to say, all errors and misjudgements are entirely our own. Both authors have contributed equally to this book. The order of names reflects the principle of rotation. DOI: /

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