Political crisis and the Rise of the Far Right in Greece

Abstract

The electoral rise of Golden Dawn from obscurity to parliamentary representation has drawn attention to its particular neo-fascist discourse. In sharp contrast to the tendency of most far-right movements in Europe to present themselves as being part of the political mainstream, Golden Dawn has never disavowed its openly neo-Nazi references. Its political and ideological discourse combines extreme racism, nationalism and authoritarianism along with traditional conservative positions in favour of traditional family roles and values and the Greek Orthodox Church. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand to situate the ideology and discourse of Golden Dawn in a conjuncture of economic and social crisis, a crisis of the project of European Integration, and examine it as part of a broader authoritarian post-democratic and post-hegemonic transformation of the State in contemporary capitalism; on the other hand to criticize the position suggested recently that Golden Dawn was also the result of the supposedly “national-populist” discourse of the anti-austerity movement. On the contrary, we will insist on the opposition between the discourses and practices of Golden Dawn and the anti-austerity movement in Greece.