Abstract
This chapter analyzes the AKEL and the SYRIZA trajectories as governing parties and emphasizes the impact of government-opposition dynamics on their ideological and political positions. It is argued that both parties have been reluctant to launch radical proposals or solutions consistent with their ideology and their past. Endorsing a long-term vision for radical social change, as well as their traditional anti-capitalist positions, while governing in the EU context, seems a mission (almost) impossible. This balancing act can at times lead to intraparty tensions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
http://www.marxismos.com/greece-menu/24-greek-politics/syn-syriza/2315-sumfonia-upotagis.html; accessed 22 February 2015.
- 3.
http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2015/06/05/leaked-greeces-new-debt-restructuring-plan/, 5 June 2015; accessed 22 September 2015.
- 4.
The party perception that the financial institutions actually carried out an economic coup against SYRIZA to avoid a further leftist turn in other European countries was enhanced when WikiLeaks released a transcription of teleconferencing conversations between IMF officials threatening Greece with a “credit event” before the Grexit referendum. See, http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/IMFF.pdf; accessed 4 April 2016.
- 5.
Statement of Resignation, http://www.e-dromos.gr/dilosi-18/; accessed 31 July 2015.
- 6.
Popular Unity: 25 SYRIZA MPs Form a New Parliamentary Team, http://iskra.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21783:laikh-enothta&catid=83:aristera&Itemid=200; accessed 21 August 2015.
- 7.
Overall, 65 legislative bills were introduced from 26 August 2011 until 17 January 2013 by the Christofias administration in order to address the economic downfall and to comply with the Troika demands. These bills included, among others, measures for limiting public spending, cuts in welfare allowances and salaries, and further liberalizing sectors of the economy. See Committee of Finance, House of Representatives, Memorandum-related legislation, internal document, undated.
- 8.
See President N. Anastasiades’s open letter to Christofias, 16 November 2012, http://www.sigmalive.com/news/politics/22151/parousiazoume-tin-epistoli-anastasiadi-ston-xristofia; accessed 12 January 2016.
- 9.
http://www.philenews.com/el-gr/oikonomia-kypros/146/281540/protasi-nomou-kata-ton-idiotikopoiiseon, 15 October 2015; accessed 22 January 2016.
- 10.
http://www.sigmalive.com/news/politics/291654/metopo-kata-apokratikopoiisis-tis-cyta-apo-antipolitefsi, 12 December 2015; accessed 22 December 2015.
Bibliography
Agourides, Y. (2015). ‘Battles, Victories, Defeats, Compromises and new Negotiations’, Avgi 27 December, pp. 4–5.
AKEL (2008). Central Committee Resolution, April.
AKEL (2010b). Theses of the central committee to the 21st Congress, Nicosia, September.
AKEL (2011b). Subsidies and Economic Measures Given to Empower Society and the Economy, Economic and Social Studies Bureau of AKEL’s Central Committee, January-February.
AKEL (2013). Political proposal for exiting the memorandum, April, Nicosia: AKEL.
AKEL (2014). Theses of AKEL’s Central Committee for the Programmatic Congress, Nicosia, 15–16 February, Nicosia: AKEL.
AKEL (2015b). Theses of AKEL’s Central Committee to the 22nd Congress, Nicosia, 4–7 June, Nicosia: AKEL.
Anastasiou, K. (2015). ‘No Direction Home: The Promise of Soft Neoliberalism’, Theseis, No. 132, July-September [in Greek].
Anderson, P. (2015). ‘The Greek Debacle. On the crisis in Greece and Syriza’s failure to resist the Eurozone’, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/07/tspiras-syriza-euro-perry-anderson/, accessed 25 July 2015.
Andreadis, I. (2015). ‘The ideological foundations of the Greek coalition government’, in R. Gerodimos (Eds), First thoughts on the 25 January 2015 election in Greece, GPSG Pamphlet No 4, Published on 2 February 2015 by the Greek Politics Specialist Group (GPSG).
Antoniou, D. (2016). ‘The Left 2015 for SYRIZA and Greece’, Kathimerini 3 January 2016, p. 20.
Balabanidis, Y. (2015a). ‘Radical Left, the Heir of Many Ancestors’, Sygxrona Themata, 130–131 (December), pp. 46–50 [in Greek].
Bale, T. and Dunphy, R. (2011). ‘In From the Cold? Left Parties and Government Involvement Since 1989’, Comparative European Politics, 9(3), pp. 269–291.
Bruff, I. (2014). ‘The Rise of Authoritarian Neoliberalism’, Rethinking Marxism, 26(1), pp. 113–129.
Charalambous, G. and Ioannou, G. (2015). ‘No Bridge over Troubled Waters: The Cypriot Left Heading the Government 2008-2013’, Capital and Class, pp. 1–2, DOI: 10.1177/0309816815587078.
Charalambous, G. (2012b). ‘AKEL and the European Union’, Greek Political Science Review, Issue 38 [in Greek].
Christophorou, C. (2008). ‘A New Communist Surprise – What’s Next? Presidential Elections in the Republic of Cyprus, February 2008’, South European Society and Politics, 13(2), pp. 217–235.
Cotta, M. (1999). ‘On the Relationship Between Party and Government’, N. 6/1999, Università degli Studi di Siena, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche Giuridiche Politiche e Sociali, Via Mattioli, 10 53100 SIENA.
Crouch, C. (2004). Post-Democracy, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Dragasakis, Y. (2016). ‘A Landmark Year’, Efimerida ton Sintakton, 23–24 January, pp. 6–7.
Eleftheriou, C. (2015). ‘The Greek Radical Left and the Crisis (2010-2015): Aspects of a Great Overturn’, Sygxrona Themata, 130–131, December, pp. 61–73 [in Greek].
Fischer, L. and Economou, D. (2015), ‘Cyprus at the Crossroads’, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/cyprus-communists-SYRIZA-greece/, 26 May 2015, accessed 4 June 2015.
Gkasis, P. (2015). ‘What led to the coalition government between Syriza and Independent Greeks?’, in R. Gerodimos (Eds), First thoughts on the 25 January 2015 election in Greece, GPSG Pamphlet No 4, Published on 2 February 2015 by the Greek Politics Specialist Group (GPSG).
Glezos, M. (2015). ‘Before it’s too late’, http://kinisienergoipolites.blogspot.com/2015/02/blog-post_574.html, Accessed 22 February.
Halikiopoulou, D. and Vasilopoulou, S. (2015). ‘The middle class is the key to retaining power’, in R. Gerodimos (Eds), First thoughts on the 25 January 2015 election in Greece, GPSG Pamphlet No 4, Published on 2 February 2015 by the Greek Politics Specialist Group (GPSG).
Hough, D. and Olsen, J. (2015). ‘What happens to the left when it gains power? Look at Greece’s Syriza party’, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/09/02/what-happens-to-the-left-when-it-gains-power-look-at-greeces-syriza-party/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_cage, Accessed 2 September 2015.
House of Representatives (2012). Proceedings from the discussions on Cyprus Agreement with the Troika, Nicosia, 15 December.
Katsourides, Y. (2012). Travelling against the Tide: The Cypriot Communist Left in the Post-1990 Era, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 13 (2), pp. 187–209.
Katsourides, Y. (2016). ‘Delegitimization accelerated: democracy, accountability and the troika experience in Cyprus’. Portuguese Journal of Social Science (forthcoming).
Kiapidou, N. (2015b). ‘Europe and the 2015 Snap Greek Elections, Round 2: Results, Patterns, and Divides’, https://epern.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/europe-and-the-2015-snap-greek-elections-round-2-results-patterns-and-divides/, Accessed 29 September 2015.
Kouvelakis, S. (2015). ‘From the Absurd to the Tragic’, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/07/tsipras-syriza-greece-euro-debt/, Accessed 12 July 2015.
Kyritsis, P. (2015). ‘Counterattack’, Haravgi, 29 November 2015, p. 6.
Lapavitsas, C. (2016). ‘The Year Hope was Refuted’, Efimerida ton Sintakton, 23–24 January p. 16.
Lapavitsas, C. (2015). ‘The election of the President of the Republic’, http://costaslapavitsas.blogspot.com/2015/02/blog-post_18.html, Accessed on 22 February 2015.
Mavroudeas, S. (2015). ‘On the Programmatic Statements of the SYRIZA-ANEL Government’, https://stavrosmavroudeas.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/, Accessed 10 February 2015 [in Greek].
Monbiot, G. (2015), ‘Greece is the latest battleground in the financial elite’s war on democracy’, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/07/greece-financial-elite-democracy-liassez-faire-neoliberalism?CMP=share_btn_fb, accessed 2 August 2015.
Moschonas, G. (2015b). ‘Critical Elections and the Interpretation of the September Elections’, Sygxrona Themata, Issue 130–131, December, pp. 26–s28 [in Greek].
Mudde, C. (2015). SYRIZA: The Falsification of the Populist Promise, Thessaloniki: Epikentro [in Greek].
Mpogiopoulos, N. (2015). ‘We Can only Lose our Chains’, http://www.enikos.gr/mpogiopoulos/299731,Exoyme_na_xasoyme_mono_tis_alysides_ma.html, accessed 24 February 2015.
Olsen, J., Koß, M., and Hough, D. (2010). ‘From Pariahs to Players? Left parties in National Governments. In J. Olsen, M. Koß and D. Hough (eds.) Left Parties in Government, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–15.
Panayiotou, A. (2014). The First Left Presidency, 2008-2013, Limassol: Cyprus Centre for East Mediterranean Studies [in Greek].
Papadopoulou, E. and Spourdalakis, M. (2015). ‘SYRIZA’s Two Months in Government: Difficulties and Challenges’, http://www.globalresearch.ca/syrizas-two-months-in-government-difficulties-and-challenges/5439819, Accessed 3 April 2015.
Petras, J. (2015b). ‘Syriza: Plunder, Pillage and Prostration. (How the ‘Hard Left’ embraces the policies of the Hard Right’. http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=2039, 15 June 2015, Accessed 22 July 2015.
Petras (2015c). ‘Greek elections: January and September 2015 - From Hope to Fear and Despair’, http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=2048, Accessed 1 September 2015.
Rinaldi, R. (2015). ‘Statement of Resignation’, http://www.e-dromos.gr/rudi-rinaldi-dhlwsh-paraithshs-apo-thn-pg-tou-syriza/, Accessed 22 July 2015.
Schmidt, V. and Thatcher, M. (2014), ‘Why are neoliberal ideas so resilient in Europe’s political economy?’, Critical Policy Studies, 8(3), pp. 340–347.
Seferiades, S. (2015). ‘Transforming victory to defeat’, http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/seraphim-seferiades/-_680_b_7742920.html, Accessed 8 July 2015 [in Greek].
Sevastakis, N. (2015). ‘Postscript: Thoughts on SYRIZA’s Government’, Sygxrona Themata, 130–131, December, pp. 28–31 [in Greek].
Spourdalakis, M. (2016). ‘Becoming SYRIZA again’, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/01/syriza-memorandum-troika-left-platform-tsipras-austerity-government/, accessed 1 February 2016.
Spourdalakis (2015). ‘To Fight Another Day’, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/09/syriza-election-greece-memorandum-austerity-popular-unity-tsipras/, Accessed 5 October 2015.
Spourdalakis, M. (2014), ‘The Miraculous Rise of the ‘Phenomenon SYRIZA’”, International Critical Thought, 4(3), pp. 354–366.
Sygkelos, Y. (2015). ‘A Critical Analysis of the Greek Referendum of July 2015’, Contemporary Southeastern Europe, 2(2), pp. 1–6.
SYRIZA Youth (2015). Regarding the Voting of the Third Memorandum’, http://rproject.gr/article/anakoinosi-tis-neolaias-syriza-gia-tin-psifisi-toy-tritoy-mnimonioy, Accessed 13 August 2015.
SYRIZA (2015). ‘A Blueprint of the Government Programme’, August 2015, http://www.avgi.gr/documents/10179/0/%CE%A3%CE%A7%CE%95%CE%94%CE%99%CE%9F%20%CE%A0%CE%A1%CE%9F%CE%93%CE%A1%CE%91%CE%9C%CE%9C%CE%91%CE%A4%CE%9F%CE%A3%20%CE%A3%CE%A5%CE%A1%CE%99%CE%96%CE%91/b29e5a3e-41b8-4a17-b7cc-caba9d0e68af, Accessed 23 September 2015.
SYRIZA (2014). ‘The Thessaloniki Programme’, http://www.syriza.gr/article/id/57965/OMILIA-TOY-PROEDROY-TOY-SYRIZA-ALEKSH-TSIPRA-STO-SYNEDRIAKO-KENTRO-I.-BELLIDHS-ThESSALONIKH-13-9-2014.html#.VnrVX8tukdU, Accessed 15 September 2014.
Teperoglou, E. (2015). ‘The sleeping giant dreams up a new coalition’, in R. Gerodimos (Eds), First thoughts on the 25 January 2015 election in Greece, GPSG Pamphlet No 4, Published on 2 February 2015 by the Greek Politics Specialist Group (GPSG).
Traynor, I. (2015). ‘SYRIZA’s historic win puts Greece on collision course with Europe’, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/25/syriza-historic-win-greece-european-union-austerity, Accessed 26 January.
Tsipras, A. (2016). ‘One Year Left. One Year of Struggle. We Move On’, Speech delivered on the anniversary of one year in government, Athens, 24 January, https://left.gr/news/anoihti-politiki-sygkentrosi-toy-syriza-me-omiliti-ton-al-tsipra-1-hronos-aristera-1-hronos, accessed 25 January 2015.
Tsipras, A. (2015). Policy Statement, 8 February 2015, http://www.primeminister.gov.gr/2015/02/08/13322, accessed 9 February 2015 [in Greek].
Tsirbas, Y. (2015). ‘The January 2015 Parliamentary Election in Greece: Government Change, Partial Punishment and Hesitant Stabilization’, South European Society and Politics, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2015.1088428.
Vernardakis, C. (2015). ‘The Party, the Government and the State: The Challenges for SYRIZA’, http://www.vernardakis.gr/article.php?id=599, Accessed 22 February 2015 [in Greek].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Katsourides, Y. (2016). The Radical Left in Government: Two Steps Back. In: Radical Left Parties in Government. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58841-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58841-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58840-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58841-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)