Antonis A. Ellinas

The Rise of Golden Dawn: The New Face of the Far Right in Greece

The article examines the rise of the one of the most extremist political parties in Europe, Golden Dawn. It sketches the historical trajectory of the Greek far right, examines the ideological, organisational and voter profile of Golden Dawn, and offers possible explanations for its breakthrough in the 2012 elections. The article shows how the economic crisis has brought a massive realignment of the Greek electorate away from mainstream parties, giving rise to anti-system and anti-immigrant sentiments. Golden Dawns violent tactics have allowed the party to establish an anti-system and anti-immigrant profile and capitalise on these sentiments. The partys future will depend on its capacity to absorb organisationally any future tensions between party pragmatists and idealists.

Reforming the Commission: between modernization and bureaucratization

The article uses evidence from an original survey of 200 top Commission officials to highlight the schizophrenic nature of the Kinnock reforms. It shows that the push toward the ‘modernization’ of the Commission has been accompanied by a trend towards ‘bureaucratization’. The findings of the survey challenge the dominant view that the reform project was largely a move toward the institutional paradigm set by new public management (NPM). Based on the views of top Commission officials, the reforms can best be described as a marriage of ‘Weberian-bureaucratic’ and NPM ideas. This mix of largely incompatible reform measures resulted from the simultaneous effort to maximize the efficiency of the organization while responding to the legitimacy crisis that created demands for more accountability. The political nature of these demands suggests that it will be hard for the Barroso Commission to substantially change the turn toward bureaucratization.

Neo-Nazism in an Established Democracy: The Persistence of Golden Dawn in Greece

The literature predicts that extremist right-wing parties like the Greek Golden Dawn (GD) are doomed to stay in the margins of electoral competition, scaring away voters with their authoritarian views and violent tactics. Defying scholarly expectations and despite the criminal prosecution of its leadership, GD increased its electoral strength in the May 2014 European elections. The article contrasts the neo-Nazi GD with Western European radical right parties and examines the factors that facilitated the persistence of such an extreme political party in an established European democracy. It shows how GD managed to capitalise on the de-legitimation of Greek political institutions and, through its organisational activity, present itself as a socially legitimate anti-system alternative.

Supranationalism in a Transnational Bureaucracy: The Case of the European Commission

While a significant body of scholarly work suggests that we can best understand the policy output of international bureaucracies by focusing on the preferences of their political masters, this article joins those looking ‘inside’ such bureaucracies to comprehend their behaviour. Using an original data set from nearly 200 interviewees, the article examines the policy preferences of top bureaucrats of the European Commission. It shows that top Commission managers favour deeper European integration regardless of their national background or their organizational experience. The tilt of the Commission bureaucracy toward supranationalism is indicated by a broader consensus within the organization on some of the most controversial initiatives in the EU, such as the constitutional treaty, Turkish accession and the directive for the liberalization of the services sector. This notable consensus suggests that despite occasional policy setbacks and perceived intergovernmental ‘trends’, the Commission will continue serving its integrative mission.

Chaotic but Popular? Extreme-Right Organisation and Performance in the Age of Media Communication

A notable strain in the literature suggests that party organisation has a net causal effect on the electoral performance of extreme-right parties. This view rests on a somewhat fuzzy definition and static conceptualisation of party organisation. Moreover, this organisational exegesis fails to fully acknowledge the impact of media communications on modern parties. The analysis of the evolution of the French National Front and the consideration of other extreme-right party trajectories casts doubt on conventional accounts of organisational effects pointing to various venues for future research. Party organisation does not affect how parties perform at the ballot box during their earlier phase of development but seems to explain why some parties survive their initial electoral breakthroughs while others collapse. The media can help parties overcome their early organisational deficiencies, but can also undermine future organisational growth.

Political trust in extremis

The literature points out that political trust can have a major impact on democratic politics by affecting political participation, institutional effectiveness and policy choices. Given the significance of political trust for the functioning of democracy, it is important know how the way citizens relate with political actors and institutions changes in times of extraordinary shock. Using Greece as a case and data from successive rounds of the European Social Survey, this article shows that, during times of major distress, the way schools and hospitals are run – the “social” performance of government – has an important effect on political trust. This effect is stronger during the economic crisis than during normal conditions, as more citizens turn to the state for protection but are disappointed by administrative inefficiency and malfunction. The evidence suggests that international creditors must pay more systematic attention to the administrative effectiveness of social welfare institutions rather than solely focus on economic performance.

How far right local party organizations develop The organizational buildup of the Greek Golden Dawn

The literature on far right parties emphasizes the importance of party organization for electoral persistence. Yet, a lot is still unknown about the organizational development of these parties. This article examines the microdynamics of organizational development and explores why some party organizations succeed and others fail. It focuses on the local rather than the national level and analyzes grassroots activities rather than party leadership, institutions, or members. To analyze organizational development, the article uses an original and unique data set of 3594 activities of the Greek Golden Dawn (GD) supplemented by interviews with the GD leadership and activists as well as with evidence from hundreds of newspaper reports. It uses this evidence to trace local party activism and to document variation in local organizational outcomes. To account for why some local party organizations succeed or fail, it suggests that, rather than solely following electoral logic, the organizational development of far right parties also relates to the way they respond to challenges from antifascist groups and state authorities.

Organisational Continuity and Electoral Endurance: The Communist Party of Cyprus

This article makes a contribution to the understanding of party organisation by examining one of the most successful West European communist parties, the Communist Party of Cyprus (AKEL). Defying the downward trend of its counterparts and the external shock of Soviet collapse, the AKEL has managed to sustain the support of nearly a third of the electorate. Using original archival evidence and interview data, the article attributes the electoral endurance of the AKEL to organisational continuity. Since its founding, the party has built a robust mass party structure, with an extensive network of auxiliary organisations and strong centralising mechanisms. During the crisis of the late 1980s, the party kept the basic features of this organisational model intact refusing to dismantle its Leninist organisational infrastructure. Organisational continuity has helped the AKEL sustain its electoral strength by signalling its ideological consistency. Organisational continuity might also account for the relative persistence of other communist parties in Western Europe.

Institutional Grievances and Right-Wing Extremism: Voting for Golden Dawn in Greece

Abstract This article examines the effect of institutional grievances on extreme right voting by using an original survey to analyse voter support for the Greek Golden Dawn (GD). The article first examines various theories of extreme-right voting and then develops the concept of institutional grievances. Using structural equation modeling, it shows that that the strongest correlates of GD voting are those capturing institutional grievances. Economic grievances have a limited and cultural grievances a moderate effect on GD voting. The article compares the findings with those of the broader literature on extreme-right voting. It concludes with some suggestions on how to link the findings with broader developments in Europe.

Far right activism and electoral outcomes

This article uses an original data set of 3262 party activities to examine how the local activism of a Greek far right party, the Golden Dawn, affected its electoral performance. Whereas most studies of activism focus on its intensity, this article examines how a neglected dimension, the consistency of activism, affects electoral outcomes. It also distinguishes between those activities local parties undertake indoors to communicate with activists and those organized outdoors to communicate with voters. Instead of gauging the efficacy of activism shortly prior to elections, the study measures the effects of activism from one election to the next. The article demonstrates that consistent outdoor activism is electorally competitive. The findings have implications for the study of local activism, especially that of really extreme parties, like the Golden Dawn.