Including the "Nation's Enemies": The Long Politics of Recognition and Restitution during the Third Greek Republic (1974–2006)

Abstract:In 1974, democracy was restored in Greece and the state had to shift the boundaries of social and political exclusion. Nevertheless, the first right-wing governments did not accept the Left's symbolic legitimacy and integration into the nation. They refused to recognize the left-wing Resistance, while the Left opposition tried to establish the National Resistance as a central landmark in national history. PASOK's rise to power in 1981 altered the state's policy on the past. They incorporated EAM's legacy into national history, creating a new foundational myth with new silences and new voices. ND began to adopt a more inclusive stance, but when they came to power in 1990 they overhauled the process that had recognized the left-wing Resistance. PASOK's return to power in 1993 did not manage to resolve the many pending issues. Coming to terms with the Greek past was not a straightforward, linear process but rather a long, tangled, and arduous one, the end of which is not yet clear.