Towards an anatomy of Metaxas’s fascist experiment : organic intellectuals, antiparliamentarian discourse and authoritarian state building

Abstract

Main aim of this thesis is to shed a new light on the 4th of August of regime, the authoritarian state that was established in August 1936 by Metaxas, and the anti-parliamentarian ideology that it developed during the years of its existence. Despite increasing production of literature on this topic in the last few years the bibliographical lacunae are still many and there is still a high degree of puzzlement in regard to the understanding of the nature of the regime. This thesis attempts to form a new understanding of its political nature and the discourses that it has developed as a regime on its own physiognomy. The anti-parliamentarian discourse is chosen to be analyzed from the ideological motives that the regime adopted since it is considered crucial for the understanding of the mentality of Greek fascist experiment. The overcoming of the parliamentarian rule was one of the key reasons for its establishment considered as destructive for the existence of the national totality. I adopt the concept of 'anti-parliamentarianism' as a more suitable term than that of 'anti-democratic' because it leaves room for alternative definitions of democracy.