Skip to content
openDemocracy
Sign in Subscribe

The banality of Golden Dawn

With Golden Dawn having entrenched themselves as the third-largest party in Greece, can they still be considered a 'criminal gang'? Or is this just the new political normal in Greece?

By Vassilis Petsinis
Published:
Share
PA-25383872.jpg
PA-25383872.jpg

A Golden Dawn rally in Athens, Jan 2016. PAimages/Yorgos Karahalis. All rights reserved.

Golden Dawn remains Greece’s third most popular party. Since 2012, the party has succeeded in maintaining the solidarity and groupness of its voters intact during a series of electoral contests (local, national, and European).

Nevertheless, Golden Dawn’s leadership is currently standing trial on criminal accusations and this has complicated the operation of the party. The questions addressed here are: how significant is Golden Dawn as a political actor and what does this imply about Greece’s stateness? Does Golden Dawn still manage to attract voters on the basis of its opposition to immigration and how?

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us. Please check individual images for licensing details.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0