Party Change in Greece During and After the Crisis: From Instability to Uncertainty

The economic crisis of the last decade was a seminal moment for the restructuring of party systems across various European countries. This period of turbulence challenged the prevailing party alignments, tested the resilience of long-standing political parties, and paved the way for the rise of new political actors. Perhaps most significantly, it marked a further decline in political confidence indicators, thereby fueling the rise of anti-establishment parties across the political and ideological spectrum. For indebted nations, the precipitous decline in living standards engendered a marked destabilization of political systems, thereby prompting a fundamental reevaluation of the capacity of political parties, particularly those of the mainstream political order, to effectively manage the crisis and the social and economic ramifications of the bailout programs. Within this context, Greece emerges as a particularly salient case study, owing to the profound economic and societal repercussions of the crisis, as well as the pervasive and visible challenge to established political ideologies. This led to the rise of an anti-systemic party from the radical left, which, over time, integrated into the political mainstream. The dynamic nature of the political landscape was characterized by the emergence and subsequent dissolution of various parties, their remarkable electoral ascendance, subsequent suppression, and intermittent reemergence. The Greek party system underwent various transformations during the crisis period (2010-2018), which significantly influenced the dynamics of party competition in the post-crisis period (2019-2024). The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the developments in the Greek party system from 2010 to 2024, with a focus on key indicators of the evolution of party competition (ENEP, ENPP, volatility) and the documentation of transformations in the primary Greek party families. The objective of this study is to demonstrate that the volatility in the party competition that links the precarious dominance of the center-right New Democracy in the post-crisis phase is rooted in developments that were discerned in the crisis period and that altered the manner in which Greek political parties functioned. The study will elucidate the changes that led to conditions conducive to party change, while also highlighting the inertia that still sustains some continuities. The concept of polycrisis as a process of constant crisis, which keeps party systems in a state of uncertainty, will also be discussed, with reference again to the Greek case.