Greece: Historic Change or Alarm Bell?

Studies in Political Economy, 2008

This paper examines how the radical left parties became the big winners of Greece's last elections in May and June 2012. The rise of the Greek radical left signaled the collapse of the country's two traditionally powerful parties (Panhellenic Socialist Movement -PASOK and New Democracy -ND), which have dominated the political life since the collapse of the Junta in 1974. As a result, the Greek party system seems to be just as volatile as it was in the early 1950s. The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) ended up as Greece's second strongest party with 16,8% of the popular vote in the May elections and 26,9% in the June elections, provoking an electoral earthquake and becoming the leading party of the Greek centre-left. The aim of this paper is to explore the causes that lie behind the electoral rise of SYRIZA in the last two elections in Greece as well as the flexible and unstable transformation of the

Dissent, pp. 33-37, fall, 2013

2016

The victory of the radical-left SYRIZA in the September 2015 election confounded expectations given the failure of the SYRIZA–ANEL government formed in January either to deliver on its central promise of reversing austerity policies or to capitalise on its major victory in the July referendum. The article examines both the election and the referendum that preceded it, offering an explanation for SYRIZA’s victory. It also attempts to trace the trajectory of the current party system in Greece and its ongoing realignment process in light of the 2015 electoral contests and the busy political timeline since the formation of the first SYRIZA–ANEL government.

2014

The political landscape in Greece is confused and volatile at the moment; the right and extreme- right-wing parties are accorded a disproportionately large place in political debate, while the radical left-wing SYRIZA party is attempting to maintain a ‘leftist’ profile and demonstrate its capacity to govern through a strategy of image normalisation. These tensions make it very difficult for the Greek government to stick to the EU’s tough reform agenda. The governing coalition is trying to conceal the social effects of implementing structural policy reforms, even postponing some measures to avoid bearing their political cost. At the same time, it is adopting a very rushed, and thus quite worrying, attitude towards a fast-track growth agenda, without taking into consideration the conditions for sustainable economic development.

Respresentation, 2015

This article represents an attempt to investigate the Greek elections of January 2015 within the political context of Greece. The outcome of this election illustrated the main features of the exact previous election of 2012 including the fragmentation of the party system and the rise of anti-bailout forces. In this context for the first time since 1974 and for the first time since the entry of Greece in the rescue bailout mechanism of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in 2010, an anti-bailout party, the radical left SYRIZA, won the elections forming a coalition government with the right-wing ANEL on an anti-bailout platform.

Opendemocracy, 2021

SYRIZA is not the same party that rose to power in 2015 – is this the end of its populist adventure?