This radicalisation which is not one: contentious politics against the backdrop of the Greek crisis

Abstract: Since the eruption of the Greek economic crisis in 2010 and the introduction of austerity policies, Greece’s public space has become a theatre of intense political conflict in the form of social unrest, mass mobilisations, symbolic and physical clashes and political instability. This paper suggests that these developments can be understood in a productive way by drawing on a psychoanalytic understanding of loss and trauma. This framework can help us understand the transformation of a popular subject previously loyal to the political establishment into a disenchanted one, and also address the question of emotional intensities at play in this detachment. But in addition, psychoanalysis highlights the possibility of different responses to loss and the different ethical implications that these can have, which stands in contrast to accounts that see radicalisation as inherently dangerous. Far-right and left-wing responses are examined and characterised through this lens. The paper concludes that there are nuances in the left-wing responses that can meet the ethical criteria set by a psychoanalytic understanding of loss.