The Polarization of Political Conflict in the Greek Cypriot Community in the 1940s–1950s: A Fight for Hegemony

Abstract

The article examines the polarization of internal politics between Left and Right in the Greek Cypriot community in the 1940s and 1950s. By analyzing the ideological and political conflicts of this period it detects the mechanisms through which political polarization and radicalization increased. The emphasis on internal politics factors aims, inter alia, to stimulate critical thinking in political analysis that goes beyond the mere displacement of responsibilities and sources of bad luck in external actors and scrutinize the choices of national actors. The analysis of internal dynamics within the Greek Cypriot community can contribute to a (partial) deconstruction of the dominant narrative of this period which glorifies the nationalist Right via the EOKA armed struggle. The argument presented here is that political polarization and radicalization were instrumentally utilized by the Greek Cypriot nationalist Right to serve the purposes of internal dominance and hegemony in anticipation of the end of colonialism.