Assistant Professor of Public Policy
School for Government
The Policy Institute
georgios.samaras (a) kcl.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 7325
40 Aldwych
Bush House - North East Wing
King’s College London
Room 8.09
WC2B 4BG
Instagram / Bluesky
Publications
Samaras, G. (2025). Decoding the Symbolic Storm Fuelling Greek Far-Right Politics: a Visual Essay. Visual Studies, 40 (2). DOI: 10.1080/1472586X.2025.2483230
Samaras, G. (2025). Hide and Seek: Extreme-Right Leadership and Communication Tactics Behind Bars in Greece. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 26 (2). DOI: 10.1080/1600910X.2025.2487790
Samaras, G. (2025). Demokratia dismantled. Index on Censorship, 54 (1). DOI: 10.1177/03064220251332621
Samaras, G. (2025). Battleground Europe: The Rise of Anti-Woke Movements and Their Threat to Democratic Values. Frontiers in Political Science, 7. Forthcoming.
Samaras, G. (2025). Masculinity Under Pressure: Economic Crisis and the Radicalisation of Greek Far‐Right Voters. Forthcoming. 10.2139/ssrn.5219765
Monograph
Samaras, G. (2025). Who Rules the Land of Denial? Book Project under contract with Palgrave Macmillan and Springer Nature. New Perspectives on South-East Europe Series. Forthcoming.
Working Papers Under Review
The Digital Ethnonation: Multimodal Extreme-Right Propaganda and National Identity on YouTube. Working Paper. Under Review in Mediterranean Politics - available upon request.
This article examines how the Greek extreme-right party Golden Dawn harnessed YouTube to promote nationalist propaganda through multimodal strategies encompassing text, imagery, and audio. By blending long-standing nationalist narratives with the distinctive affordances of digital platforms, Golden Dawn’s video content reflects the resilience and adaptability of extreme-right movements operating within contemporary media ecologies
The paper outlines the rise and fall of SYRIZA, the left-wing political party in Greece. Initially propelled to power in 2015 on an anti-austerity platform, the party’s ascent reflected public discontent with neoliberal policies. However, SYRIZA’s subsequent compromises, including agreeing to austerity measures it once opposed, led to its political marginalisation and decline by 2024.
This visual essay explores how far‐right visual campaigns reshape collective memory and national identity in contemporary Germany. Through photographic fieldwork in Munich and Karlsruhe, the study examines the visual rhetoric of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) campaign, highlighting themes of reclaimed freedom, leadership, and remigration.
This article examines the Greek government’s evolving narrative through three distinct phases: an initial acknowledgment of the disaster’s gravity, a subsequent campaign to minimize its severity, and eventual attempts to distort public outrage and shift blame. Employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study scrutinizes 150 official statements, interviews, and social media posts by government officials and ruling party legislators.
Misuse, Mislabelling, and the Broken Path of the “Hard-Right”: Challenging Non-scientific Political Discourse. Working Paper. Under Review in European Political Science - available upon request.
The paper critically examines how media outlets use the term “hard‐right” to categorise far‐right political movements, arguing that this buzzword is ambiguously defined and misapplied, which obscures important ideological distinctions. By analysing 140 articles from prominent English-speaking media using a Strategic Narrative framework, the study demonstrates that such imprecise labelling can distort public understanding and undermine democratic accountability.
Book Reviews
Samaras, G. (2024). The Politics of Memory in the Italian Populist Radical Right. LSE Review of Books.
Samaras, G. (2023). Populism in Power: Discourse and Performativity in SYRIZA and Donald Trump. LSE Review of Books.
Samaras, G. (2023). Populism in Power: Discourse and Performativity in SYRIZA and Donald Trump. LSE Review of Books.
Samaras, G. (2023). The culture of democracy–a sociological approach to civil society: edited by Bin Xu,
Cambridge, Polity, 2022. Democratization. ISBN 1509543988. DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2022.2142209
Samaras, G. (2023). The Capitol Riots. Digital Media, Disinformation, and Democracy Under Attack. International Journal of Press-Politics. DOI: 10.1177/19401612231172315
Samaras, G. (2022). Rise of the Extreme Right: A Lowy Institute Paper: edited by Lydia Khalil, Melbourne, Penguin, 2022, ISBN 1761046357. Politics, Religion & Ideology . DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2022.2146283
Other Publications and Policy Reports
Aspiring European Imitators of Trumpism. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Greek views on gendered violence and equality: unveiling attitudes and concerns. London School of Economics. Link.
The "curse" of "overtourism" and extreme inequalities. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Moral Panic and Greek Politics. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
International & European Developments Bulletin #20 | Europe at the Polls – Where is the EU Heading? ENA Institute. Link.
Sliding Away from Unity. University of Oxford - Department of Politics and International Relations (OxPol). Link.
Normalisation and Co-existence: extremist tendencies in centre-right factions. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Party Movement and Authoritarian Tendencies in Greece. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Pamphlet No 8: First Thoughts on the 25th June 2023 Election in Greece. PSA Greek Politics. Link.
Pamphlet No 7: First Thoughts on the 21st May 2023 Election in Greece. PSA Greek Politics. Link.
The normalisation of the far-right in Greek politics. ECPR - Illiberalism Paper Series. Link.
The Far-right in Greece and the Parliament. ENA Institute for Alternative Policies Papers. Link.
The Greek Far-Right after Golden Dawn: what’s next? C-REX - University of Oslo. Link.
Outlawing Golden Dawn. European Institute of the Mediterranean Yearbook. Link.
Aspiring European Imitators of Trumpism. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Greek views on gendered violence and equality: unveiling attitudes and concerns. London School of Economics. Link.
The "curse" of "overtourism" and extreme inequalities. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Moral Panic and Greek Politics. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
International & European Developments Bulletin #20 | Europe at the Polls – Where is the EU Heading? ENA Institute. Link.
Sliding Away from Unity. University of Oxford - Department of Politics and International Relations (OxPol). Link.
Normalisation and Co-existence: extremist tendencies in centre-right factions. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Party Movement and Authoritarian Tendencies in Greece. ETERON Institute Papers. Link.
Pamphlet No 8: First Thoughts on the 25th June 2023 Election in Greece. PSA Greek Politics. Link.
Pamphlet No 7: First Thoughts on the 21st May 2023 Election in Greece. PSA Greek Politics. Link.
The normalisation of the far-right in Greek politics. ECPR - Illiberalism Paper Series. Link.
The Far-right in Greece and the Parliament. ENA Institute for Alternative Policies Papers. Link.
The Greek Far-Right after Golden Dawn: what’s next? C-REX - University of Oslo. Link.
Outlawing Golden Dawn. European Institute of the Mediterranean Yearbook. Link.