No Country For Old Cleavages: Political attitudes and beliefs amidst the Greek debt crisis

Abstract

The Greek youth enters in their formative period amidst a period of a severe debt crisis that has been having unforeseeable implications to the established party system. How do these new political developments affect the attitudes, beliefs and the repertoire of political actions of this generation? What is the role of old cleavages and traditional division lines in this ever-changing political setting? Drawing on a novel sample from university students, the paper assesses the impact of the crisis on young people’s political beliefs. The findings suggest that the classic left-right division is not adequate to represent the much more nuanced and complex divisions generated as a result of the crisis. Some of the information provided in this survey helps to explore the role of new seemingly important division lines in helping us understand the dynamics of party competition and public opinion.