Abstract
The Conception of Democracy of the Far-Right and Radical Left in the Media Discourse on the Greek Economic Crisis
The outbreak of the financial and economic crisis in Greece 2010 has led to an unprecedented social crisis and a radical change of the political landscape. In the elections of June 2012 the (formerly) fringe neo-fascist group Golden Dawn entered the Greek parliament with 6,75% of the votes, while the new far-right populist party Independent Greeks won 7,5%. The everyday agenda of Golden Dawn includes attacks against immigrants, acts of violence in political, social and cultural places and an acknowledged contempt to the democratic political system, civil rights, international democratic institutions etc. On the other side the radical left coalition SYRIZA soared from 4,6% (2009) to 26,89% (2012) and became the Official Opposition party in Parliament. The political profile of SYRIZA is characterized by a denouncing rhetoric against the capitalistic system, globalization, the international lenders of Greece (IMF, EU, ECB) and the political establishment. They also show contempt for democratic procedures and support for violence against the democratic law enforcement. We will try therefore to generate a working hypothesis which will explore the attitudes and practices of the Greek far-right and radical left regarding the political project of democracy and its substantial dimensions through the understanding of legality and pluralism as they emerge from the public discourse in the press and the Internet. Our research findings will be based on the content analysis of articles drawn from three major daily newspapers and Internet sites (blogs, party sites etc.) from October 2012 to May 2013 in combination with intensive interviews with members and voters of Golden Dawn and SYRIZA.
