Religion, Ideology and National Identity in the 4th of August regime
This article explores the relation between ideology, national identity and religion in the palingenetic discourse of the 4th of August regime in Greece, which was established by Metaxas in 1936through a coup d’etat.
The paper “Fascism and Religion: The Metaxas Regime in Greece and the ‘Third Hellenic Civilisation’. Some Theoretical Observations on ‘Fascism’, ‘Political Religion’ and ‘Clerical Fascism’” explores the ideology of Metaxas’s regime in relation to the ‘myth’ of the nation and the role of religion (in this case, Orthodox Christianity) as one of the two main pillars of Greek identity. It also analyses the features and limitations of Metaxas’s “fascist” ideological and political outlook, especially in the context of his efforts to fascistize Greek society in the 1930s.
Written by Aristotle Kallis
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