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 / LinkedIn
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 / LinkedIn
Samaras, G. (2025). Weaponising Religion in Greece Post Economic Crisis: An Analysis of Far-Right Political Discourse from 2019 to 2024. Journal of Empirical Theology, 38 (1). DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20240018
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. DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1568816
Samaras, G. (2025). Derailing Truth: Tripartite Discourse and Public Outrage over Greece’s Tempe Valley Disaster. Accepted in Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management.
Samaras, G. (2025). Masculinity Under Pressure: Economic Crisis and the Radicalisation of Greek Far‐Right Voters. Social Sciences & Humanities Open Pre-Prints. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.5219765
Samaras, G. (2026). New Methodological Frontiers in Interviewing Hard-to-Reach Voters. Accepted in L. Hubbard (Ed.), Researching Hate. Palgrave Macmillan.
Book
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
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
Ten Years After Syriza's Victory - The Rise, Reign, and Ruin of Greece’s Left. Working Paper. Under Review in Journal of Political Ideologies - available upon request.
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.
A Visual Narrative of German Memory, Youth, and the Far‐Right. Working Paper. Under Review in Language and Communication - available upon request.
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.
Misuse, Mislabelling, and the Broken Path of the “Hard-Right.” 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.
Elon Musk, Far-right Conspiracy Theories, and Memes in the 2024 US Presidential Election: a Visual Essay. Working Paper. Under Consideration in Journal of Visual Culture - available upon request.
Could a single meme significantly reshape political discussion? This essay argues that under Elon Musk’s X ownership, memes and AI-generated imagery act as “viral affordances” that normalise extremist narratives widely. By combining digital media studies, conspiracy research and platform governance theory, this essay advances understanding of online propaganda in the multimodal age.
Woke Weaponry and the Culture-War Playbooks of the European Conservatives and Reformists, and Patriots for Europe. Working Paper w/ Billy Tsagkronis.
Framed as a political weapon, “woke” discourse by Patriots for Europe harnesses moral panic to undermine EU policies on LGBTQ+ rights, migration and climate, while the ECR deploys subtler critiques to advance fiscal sovereignty, digital censorship and tighter borders. A concise, comparative thematic analysis of MEP speeches and social-media posts reveals how both groups recast nuanced policy debates as binary struggles between a putative majority and an alleged ideological elite.
Gendered Authoritarianism. Working Paper. Under Consideration in Political Quarterly - available upon request.
How have mainstream parties in European democracies adopted far-right gender rhetoric and to what democratic effect? This article introduces the concept of “gendered authoritarianism”—the strategic mobilisation of gender debates by centre-left and centre-right actors to counter far-right challengers—and argues that it represents a novel form of democratic sabotage.
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). 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 Commentary
Submerged in Darkness: Distortion of Reality and the Absolute Deprivation of Alternatives. ETERON Institute. Link.
Aspiring European Imitators of Trumpism. ETERON Institute. 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. Link.
Moral Panic and Greek Politics. ETERON Institute. 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. 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.