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The debt crisis and Greece's changing political discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2016

Spyros Plakoudas
Spyros Plakoudas*
Affiliation:
University of Macedonia and Hellenic National Defence College [email protected]
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Abstract

The debt crisis in Greece since 2010 has triggered seismic changes in the political attitudes of the society and, above all, the political identity and discourse of the country. The extremely unpopular austerity policies caused a severe internal polarization which quickly translated into anti-German mass hysteria, vitriolic anti-EU rhetoric and sharp anti-austerity populism. This paper will endeavour to identify the origins, course and outcome of this dramatic shift in the political attitudes and identity in Greece and analyse them with the benefit of hindsight – almost six years after the eruption of the crisis.

Keywords

populismpro-memorandum (μνημονιακός)anti-memorandum (αντιμνημιακός)IMFEUSYRIZAausteritypolitical transition‘indignados’
Type
Short Notes
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , October 2016 , pp. 307 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, 2016 

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