Far-Right Violence in Greece in Comparative Perspective

Abstract:During the 2010s, far-right violence in Greece reached unprecedented dimensions. Existing research has mainly focused on country-specific factors and the organizational capacities of extreme-right actors, Golden Dawn in particular. A comparison of far-right violence in Greece with far-right violence in other countries in Western Europe between 2016 and 2020, using the unique Right-Wing Terrorism and Violence (RTV) dataset, reveals (1) that Greece has experienced much more far-right violence than any other country during this period; (2) that violence is carried out by so-called lone actors much less frequently in Greece than in other countries; and (3) that serious acts of violence in Greece are directed mostly against migrants and refugees, or against political opponents. High levels of violence in Greece are probably attributable to a unique combination of favorable structural conditions (i.e., high unemployment and an influx of refugees) and favorable opportunity structures (particularly discursive components, including negative attitudes towards migrants and high levels of affective polarization).