The role of economic and cultural changes in the rise of far‐right in Greece: A regional analysis

Abstract

AbstractThe recent strengthening of right‐wing and far‐right populism is one of the greatest political manifestations of our times and a dominant feature of the current European political landscape. In Greece, its rise coincided with a period of a prolonged financial aid programme (“bailouts”) imposing harsh austerity measures and deep structural reforms. The objective of this study is to assess the extent to which the spatially differentiated gains of Golden Dawn, one of the most anti‐establishment, anti‐migrant and anti‐EU political parties in Europe, were due to (socio‐)economic or cultural changes (or both) that took place in the country in recent years. The findings provide evidence in favour of the combined role of (socio‐)economic and cultural grievances; however, the former seem to be more important than the latter.