Giorgos Charalambous
charalambous.gi@unic.ac.cy
I am Associate Professor of Political Science at the Department of Politics and Governance, University of Nicosia, having previously carried out research and taught at the University of Cyprus, Peace Research Institute Oslo, Frederick University, European University Cyprus, and the University of Manchester.
Currently, I am serving as Book Reviews (co) Editor of The Cyprus Review (with M. Kontos, University of Nicosia) and the co-convenor (with D. Keith, University of York) of the Left Radicalism Specialist Group (LRsg) of the Political Studies Association (PSA). I serve also as an appointed member of the Research Advisory Group (RAG) on Cyprus (2019-) at the Hellenic Observatory, LSE. Since Sept. 2023, I am additionally in the Management Committee of the COST project DepolarisingEU.
Trained primarily as a political scientist at UCL (Msc in European Public Policy) and the University of Manchester (BA in Economic Studies and Government; PhD in Politics), my research experience and orientation lie in comparative politics and political sociology, broadly examining the power and conflict dynamics in European party systems and social politics and their ideational, organisational and communicational forms. To address and theorise these phenomena, my work has focused on five research fields and in their inter-connections:
1. Party politics (with a special focus on the European radical left)
2. Ideas and ideologies
3. Mobilisation, contention and social movements
4. National political conflict in the context of crisis and European integration
5. Political culture, attitudes, and behaviour, broadly conceived.
I am Associate Professor of Political Science at the Department of Politics and Governance, University of Nicosia, having previously carried out research and taught at the University of Cyprus, Peace Research Institute Oslo, Frederick University, European University Cyprus, and the University of Manchester.
Currently, I am serving as Book Reviews (co) Editor of The Cyprus Review (with M. Kontos, University of Nicosia) and the co-convenor (with D. Keith, University of York) of the Left Radicalism Specialist Group (LRsg) of the Political Studies Association (PSA). I serve also as an appointed member of the Research Advisory Group (RAG) on Cyprus (2019-) at the Hellenic Observatory, LSE. Since Sept. 2023, I am additionally in the Management Committee of the COST project DepolarisingEU.
Trained primarily as a political scientist at UCL (Msc in European Public Policy) and the University of Manchester (BA in Economic Studies and Government; PhD in Politics), my research experience and orientation lie in comparative politics and political sociology, broadly examining the power and conflict dynamics in European party systems and social politics and their ideational, organisational and communicational forms. To address and theorise these phenomena, my work has focused on five research fields and in their inter-connections:
1. Party politics (with a special focus on the European radical left)
2. Ideas and ideologies
3. Mobilisation, contention and social movements
4. National political conflict in the context of crisis and European integration
5. Political culture, attitudes, and behaviour, broadly conceived.
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Books by Giorgos Charalambous
Exploring the tendency of communist parties to face a trade-off between domestic legitimacy and electoral concerns, and their nature as parties professing opposition to the systemic currents of capitalism and European integration, the author provides a fascinating study of the nuances in deciding whether to adopt ideological consistency or undergo moderation.
Blending advances in party politics, communist history and Europeanization research, the book devises a framework that overcomes the deficiencies of uni-dimensional approaches to the study of parties and Europe. In this manner, wider insights on the national party politics of European integration are drawn."
The concept of linkage, which refers to the linking of citizens with government and the political process, is vital in the study of the electoral or ideological considerations of parties. Parties’ decisions regarding their organization and image correlates with the effort made to keep up with public opinion. Party-Society Relations in the Republic of Cyprus adds a new dimension to the study of linkage, considering the complexity of civil society as well as exploring the dynamics of political parties. Bringing together specialists from a range of disciplines, it examines the wider effects of partitocracy on democracy and uses it as a frame for exploring the construction, maintenance or deformation of links between social groups and parties. Through its analysis of both the partisan and societal aspects of party-social relations, it illuminates larger questions concerning the strategic complexity involved when politics and society interact.
Approaching the Republic of Cyprus as a representative case study of partitocratic political culture, this book is a key resource for those interested in party and civil society politics, as well as Cypriot, Mediterranean and South-East European politics.
Journal articles by Giorgos Charalambous
structure of political competition and preliminarily assesses the connection between the social and political level. While an element of surprise exists, there appears to be a pattern based on the behavioural aspects of the election that does not deviate from the diachronic culture of Cypriot political competition. The paper is divided into five sections: an introduction and outline of the
paper’s rationale; a delineation of the election’s background and context; an analysis of the campaign period; an assessment of the results; and a conclusion on the absence or recurrence of
those election-related characteristics that have been observed before.
Comunista, through a conceptual approach that draws upon the Europeanisation literature and
evaluates two sub-processes: (1) positional realignment towards European integration and (2)
the entrenchment by the party of an EU dimension of issues and activities. The empirical evidence
and analysis presented draws upon the party’s functions of patterns of party competition,
programmatic change and affiliations beyond the national party system. Findings show that
Rifondazione gradually increased the use of the issue of European integration in an attempt to
differentiate its European vision, thus presenting the EU as a necessary terrain of struggle.
Second, it underwent slight programmatic and attitudinal realignment towards a softer approach.
The intervening variables conditioning each sub-process reflect a nuanced picture, with most
identified factors playing a role. These factors also reflect the wider patterns of Italian politics
observed so far, allowing us to highlight the significance of national and party specificities in
party-based Europeanisation.
party outlooks on European integration and by doing so: (1) outlines general patterns of
opposition to European integration, by 11 radical left parties that are housed in the European
United Left/Nordic Green Left group of the European Parliament, in the 1990s and beyond;
(2) assesses the congruence between the outlooks of these parties or the lack thereof; and (3)
illuminates the factors conditioning these outlooks by addressing the ideology–strategy
debate. To this end, the paper employs two, widely referenced and historically relevant,
analytical frameworks of party-based Euroscepticism (by Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak,
and by Petr Kopecky´ and Cas Mudde), and applies them to the radical left as a whole and its
various sub-sets, as identified by the literature so far. The analysis leads to the following
three findings. First, a moderating approach can be observed on average, thus leading to an
increase in overall congruence. Second, congruence increases slightly, as we move towards a
more specific typology but overall no systematic congruence is to be found in the radical left
as a whole or most of its sub-sets, in the period examined. Third, while ideology carries
causal weight, strategy appears more prominent as a conditioning factor of outlooks.
Exploring the tendency of communist parties to face a trade-off between domestic legitimacy and electoral concerns, and their nature as parties professing opposition to the systemic currents of capitalism and European integration, the author provides a fascinating study of the nuances in deciding whether to adopt ideological consistency or undergo moderation.
Blending advances in party politics, communist history and Europeanization research, the book devises a framework that overcomes the deficiencies of uni-dimensional approaches to the study of parties and Europe. In this manner, wider insights on the national party politics of European integration are drawn."
The concept of linkage, which refers to the linking of citizens with government and the political process, is vital in the study of the electoral or ideological considerations of parties. Parties’ decisions regarding their organization and image correlates with the effort made to keep up with public opinion. Party-Society Relations in the Republic of Cyprus adds a new dimension to the study of linkage, considering the complexity of civil society as well as exploring the dynamics of political parties. Bringing together specialists from a range of disciplines, it examines the wider effects of partitocracy on democracy and uses it as a frame for exploring the construction, maintenance or deformation of links between social groups and parties. Through its analysis of both the partisan and societal aspects of party-social relations, it illuminates larger questions concerning the strategic complexity involved when politics and society interact.
Approaching the Republic of Cyprus as a representative case study of partitocratic political culture, this book is a key resource for those interested in party and civil society politics, as well as Cypriot, Mediterranean and South-East European politics.
structure of political competition and preliminarily assesses the connection between the social and political level. While an element of surprise exists, there appears to be a pattern based on the behavioural aspects of the election that does not deviate from the diachronic culture of Cypriot political competition. The paper is divided into five sections: an introduction and outline of the
paper’s rationale; a delineation of the election’s background and context; an analysis of the campaign period; an assessment of the results; and a conclusion on the absence or recurrence of
those election-related characteristics that have been observed before.
Comunista, through a conceptual approach that draws upon the Europeanisation literature and
evaluates two sub-processes: (1) positional realignment towards European integration and (2)
the entrenchment by the party of an EU dimension of issues and activities. The empirical evidence
and analysis presented draws upon the party’s functions of patterns of party competition,
programmatic change and affiliations beyond the national party system. Findings show that
Rifondazione gradually increased the use of the issue of European integration in an attempt to
differentiate its European vision, thus presenting the EU as a necessary terrain of struggle.
Second, it underwent slight programmatic and attitudinal realignment towards a softer approach.
The intervening variables conditioning each sub-process reflect a nuanced picture, with most
identified factors playing a role. These factors also reflect the wider patterns of Italian politics
observed so far, allowing us to highlight the significance of national and party specificities in
party-based Europeanisation.
party outlooks on European integration and by doing so: (1) outlines general patterns of
opposition to European integration, by 11 radical left parties that are housed in the European
United Left/Nordic Green Left group of the European Parliament, in the 1990s and beyond;
(2) assesses the congruence between the outlooks of these parties or the lack thereof; and (3)
illuminates the factors conditioning these outlooks by addressing the ideology–strategy
debate. To this end, the paper employs two, widely referenced and historically relevant,
analytical frameworks of party-based Euroscepticism (by Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak,
and by Petr Kopecky´ and Cas Mudde), and applies them to the radical left as a whole and its
various sub-sets, as identified by the literature so far. The analysis leads to the following
three findings. First, a moderating approach can be observed on average, thus leading to an
increase in overall congruence. Second, congruence increases slightly, as we move towards a
more specific typology but overall no systematic congruence is to be found in the radical left
as a whole or most of its sub-sets, in the period examined. Third, while ideology carries
causal weight, strategy appears more prominent as a conditioning factor of outlooks.
and public opinion on the left government’s record is unprecedentedly negative, the issue of communist participation in the executive is once again, rightfully back on the agenda.
of Representatives. In the first instance, it briefly charts the historical development
of the institution and outlines the crucial turning points of this development,
considering the domestic environment shaping parliamentary practice in
Cyprus. The second section deals with the two main functions of the House,
law-making and parliamentary oversight of the executive. The third section
examines the organisation of the House, discussing the various characteristics of
parliamentary committees, largely thought to be the epitome of parliamentary
organisation and the chief underlying factor of legislative power. The fourth
section highlights the importance of party groups in parliament, drawing
some conclusions about voting and procedural issues.
measures adopted led to the deterioration of living standards and the rise of social
inequality.
Emigration has increased substantially, resulting in shrinking but still strong immigrant
communities and considerable brain drain from Cyprus.
Despite the fact that the changes occurring in various dimensions were big and
significant, most of them have not been of a structural order. The reforms occurring
were primarily of a managerial form and operating at the policy level with no major
transformations in the civil administration, the public services, the labour relations
system and overall the Cypriot economic model.
At the political level, the most important change has been the rise of disaffection,
distrust and abstention, while at the same time these tendencies were channelled
mostly into apathy rather than contention and mobilization against existing political
practices.
Beyond a severe, negative impact on the social fabric and economic prosperity, the
crisis period is also one of worsening political and system legitimacy.
στην Ελλάδα όσο και διεθνώς ως ένα ορόσημο της πάλης
ενάντια στην ακροδεξιά απειλή που χαρακτηρίζει πολλές
ευρωπαϊκές κοινωνίες.
Ο ιδιαίτερος χαρακτήρας της Χρυσής Αυγής ως μιας ναζιστικής
οργάνωσης, με τη φυσιογνωμία ενός «κόμματος-πολιτοφυλακής»
κατά Ντιβερζέ και οι εγκληματικές ενέργειες στις οποίες ενεπλάκη,
κατέστησαν τη δίκη ένα γεγονός υψηλής δημοκρατικής σημασίας.
Στην επόμενη μέρα μετά την καταδίκη το ερώτημα που τίθεται
άμεσα και επιτακτικά είναι το πώς θα αποτρέψουμε στο μέλλον την
ανάκαμψη ενός τέτοιου φαινομένου και πώς θα αντιμετωπίσουμε τις
κοινωνικές και οικονομικές συνθήκες που ευνόησαν την ανάπτυξή
του. Είναι σαφές, δε, ότι τέτοιου είδους ερωτήματα δεν αφορούν
αποκλειστικά στην ελληνική περίπτωση, αλλά απασχολούν τα
κινήματα ενάντια στην ακροδεξιά, τις φασιστικές και ναζιστικές
ομάδες και σε άλλες χώρες.
Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, το Ινστιτούτο Εναλλακτικων Πολιτικών ΕΝΑ
φιλοξενεί επτά σύντομα σχόλια κοινωνικών επιστημόνων και
ακτιβιστών/-στριών από την Κύπρο, υπό την επιμέλεια του
επίκουρου καθηγητή πολιτικής επιστήμης στο Πανεπιστήμιο
Λευκωσίας Γιώργου Χαραλάμπους, στα οποία σχολιάζεται η
καταδίκη της Χρυσής Αυγής σε συνάφεια με την πολιτική παρουσία
του ΕΛΑΜ, του «αδελφού» κόμματος της πρώτης στην Κύπρο. Πώς
θα επιδράσει η καταδίκη της Χρυσής Αυγής στην πολιτική παρουσία
του ΕΛΑΜ; Ποια διδάγματα από το ελληνικό αντιφασιστικό κίνημα
μπορεί να αξιοποιήσει το αντιφασιστικό κίνημα της Κύπρου;
https://www.lse.ac.uk/Hellenic-Observatory/Assets/Documents/Publications/GreeSE-Papers/GreeSE-No183.pdf
Jobbik’s growth to alarming proportions occurred relatively quickly and sent shockwaves through the European intelligentsia, especially because Jobbik is not the type of extremist party that Western Europe is used to. This essay will examine the key distinguishing features of Jobbik and analyse the major differences between Jobbik and the far right in Western Europe.