The Far Right in Greece. Paramilitarism, Organized Crime and the Rise of ‘Golden Dawn’

Südosteuropa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-531
Author(s):  
Spyridon Tsoutsoumpis
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The State ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Distinct Component ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Recent Developments

Abstract The article unravels the ties between conservatism, the state, and the far right in Greece. It explores the complex social and political reasons which facilitated the emergence of far-right groups in Greece during the civil war and have allowed them to survive for seven decades and to flourish from time to time. The author pays particular attention to paramilitarism as a distinct component of the Greek far right. He follows the activities of ‘Golden Dawn’ and other far-right groups, in particular their paramilitary branches. To the wider public, among the most shocking aspects of the rise of ‘Golden Dawn’ was the use of violence by its paramilitary branch, tagmata efodou. The article examines the far right’s relationship to the state and the security services, and explores its overall role in Greek politics and society. He demonstrates how an understanding of the decades following the civil war are indispensable to making sense of recent developments.

Biblical Philology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk van Miert
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The State ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Church ◽  
Insight Into

Chapter 2 gives an example of how historiography has hitherto been skewed in favour of aligning philology with latitudinarian readings of the Bible. Philology was not the prerogative of the more libertine faction in the Reformed Orthodox Church; on the contrary, it was the orthodox Franciscus Gomarus who excelled in biblical scholarship. Philology was only of marginal concern in the highly public theological discussion in the decade following the death of Scaliger in 1609: the ‘Troubles’ over predestination and the relation between the State and the Church, which brought the nascent Dutch state to the brink of civil war. Arminius professed to value philological methods in his letters and showed an insight into recent developments, but this was of no consequence for his dogmatic position. His adversary Franciscus Gomarus proved a far more accomplished philologist than Arminius, but his philological work postdates the Troubles and has therefore been largely ignored.

scholarly journals “We Had to Pay to Live!”

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-164
Author(s):  
Wil G. Pansters
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Interventions ◽  
Political Economic

This article examines the emergence of self-defense forces (autodefensas) in Michoacán (Mexico) in the context of relationships between drug trafficking and the state, concentrating on the recent history of fragmentation, disorder, and violence. It traces how these processes generated comprehensive criminal sovereignty projects, which then triggered the emergence of armed defense forces in both indigenous and mestizo communities. Recent developments in Michoacán are described in light of anthropological theorizing about the relations between sovereignty, state-making, and (dis)ordering. The analysis elucidates the triangular dynamics of sovereignty-making among organized crime, the state, and armed citizens. Special attention is given to state interventions to dismantle de facto self-defense sovereignties because these have created an unstable and violent situation. It is argued that sovereignty-making is territorial and historical, and that it is embedded in political, economic, and cultural identities.

Paramilitarism, politics and organized crime during the Greek civil war (1945–1949)

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (02) ◽  
pp. 262-286
Author(s):  
Spyridon Tsoutsoumpis
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The State ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
The Past ◽  
White Terror

The historiography of the Greek civil war has made significant progress during the past decade, but the origins, role and activities of paramilitaries remain under-researched. Most studies have focused on the period of the ‘white terror’ and explored the collusion between the state and the paramilitary groups. Although such studies have advanced our understanding of this turbulent period, they have not discussed important issues such as the motivation of the rank and file members, the sociopolitical networks used to recruit and mobilize support and the diverse conditions under which militias emerge. The article will address this lacuna and provide new insights into the origins, development and legacies of paramilitarism.

Leo Vindevogel. De politicus en de mythe van zijn proces

2014 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-81
Author(s):  
Lode Wils
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The State ◽  
Far Right ◽  
High Court ◽  
Firing Squad ◽  
State Police ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Military

Leo Vindevogel, een lokaal katholiek politicus met uiterst rechtse sympathieën, toonde zich onder de bezetting een ijverig propagandist van de Duitse zaak. Hij werd in januari 1941 benoemd tot burgemeester van Ronse, een stad die sinds 1943 betrokken werd in de beginnende burgeroorlog tussen nazi’s en communisten vooral. Bij de bevrijding in september 1944 meldde hij zich bij de rijkswacht en hij werd nog tijdens de oorlog berecht door de krijgsraad en het krijgshof. Wegens flagrant landverraad, maar ook wegens de betwistbare beschuldiging van verklikking werd hij ter dood veroordeeld en gefusilleerd. De familie en geestverwanten voerden sindsdien campagne tegen die ‘gerechtelijke moord’, op basis van onware voorstellingen die zijn advocaat had verspreid om genade te bekomen.________Leo Vindevogel. The politician and the myth of his trialLeo Vindevogel, a local Catholic politician with far-right sympathies turned out to be a very active propagandist of the German case during the occupation. In January 1941 he was appointed mayor of Ronse, a city that from 1943 on was involved in particular in the beginning civil war between the nazi’s and the communists. At the time of the liberation in September 1944, he gave himself up to the state police. He was tried by court-martial and by the military high court during wartime. He was condemned to death and executed by a firing squad because of blatant treason as well as the undeniable accusation of denunciation. Since then, his family and political sympathizers have been campaigning against this ‘judicial murder’ based on untrue representations, which his lawyer had disseminated in order to prevent a pardon.

Introduction: Exploring Russian nationalisms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pål Kolstø ◽  
Helge Blakkisrud
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Part Structure

Russian societal nationalism comes in various guises, both ethnic and imperialist. Also Putin’s rhetoric is marked by the tensions between ethnic and state-focused, imperialist thinking. Noting the complex interplay of state nationalism and societal nationalism, this introductory chapter examines the mental framework within which Russian politicians were acting prior to the decision to annex Crimea. The chapter develops a typology of Russian nationalisms, surveys recent developments, and presents the three-part structure of this book: official nationalism, radical and other societal nationalisms, and identities/otherings. It concludes that after the annexation of Crimea, when the state took over the agenda of both ethnic and imperialist nationalists in Russia, societal nationalism finds itself at low ebb.

The Concept of the Political

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Schupmann
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mass Movements ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter 2 reinterprets Schmitt’s concept of the political. Schmitt argued that Weimar developments, especially the rise of mass movements politically opposed to the state and constitution, demonstrated that the state did not have any sort of monopoly over the political, contradicting the arguments made by predominant Weimar state theorists, such as Jellinek and Meinecke. Not only was the political independent of the state, Schmitt argued, but it could even be turned against it. Schmitt believed that his contemporaries’ failure to recognize the nature of the political prevented them from adequately responding to the politicization of society, inadvertently risking civil war. This chapter reanalyzes Schmitt’s political from this perspective. Without ignoring enmity, it argues that Schmitt also defines the political in terms of friendship and, importantly, “status par excellence” (the status that relativizes other statuses). It also examines the relationship between the political and Schmitt’s concept of representation.

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