The Myth of National Rebirth: The Golden Dawn’s Populist Ultra-nationalism

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the second component of the Golden Dawn’s nationalist solution, namely, the fascist myth of national rebirth. The chapter places the Golden Dawn’s palingenetic vision within the framework of ethnic election and examines the ways in which the party draws upon available cultural reservoirs. Its main proposition is that the Greek crisis offered fertile ground for the Golden Dawn to present itself as the saviour of the nation and defender of the national mission. We show that this type of nationalism forms the Golden Dawn’s master narrative and argue that the party’s success is partly related to its ability to claim ownership of nationalist issues through employing a narrative of chosenness and ethnic election.