Riots as Ballet: Socially Legitimate Mass Political Violence and Multi-Partite Informal Negotiations in the Greek Political Scene

Greece has traditionally been characterized by a relatively high level of mass political violence. Commonly, two actors are identified as playing a key role in a riotous incident: the rioters themselves and the police. With regard to Greece, the behavior of both actors, although dynamic in the long-term, is characterized, in the short-term, by high levels of repetitiveness and predictability: the vast majority of violent occurrences are carefully choreographed. What I argue hereby, is that a, socially defined, fixed level of legitimate mass political violence, can be identified at any given point of time. This level is dynamic in the long-term and configured through a constant and intensive informal negotiation between the State, the organized violent demonstrators, the non-organized ones, the peaceful protesters and the public opinion.