The 10th Annual McWhinney Memorial Lecture Presents "Crisis, Extremism, and Democratic Resilience: Evidence on Political Violence in Greece"

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies is pleased to present the Tenth Annual Edward and Emily McWhinney Memorial Lecture, “Crisis, Extremism, and Democratic Resilience: Evidence on Political Violence in Greece”.

Join us on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 7:00PM PST at the Segal School of Business, SFU, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver for a talk with Dr. Lamprini Rori, Assistant Professor in Political Analysis at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, followed by a question and answer conversation, moderated by Dr. James Horncastle, the holder of the Edward and Emily McWhinney Professorship in International Relations. 

This event is free and open to the public, however registration is required. Please note that this is an in-person event and it will not be live-streamed.

ABSTRACT

Greece offers a critical case for studying democratic resilience under prolonged strain. The Third Greek Republic—established in 1974 after the collapse of the 1967–74 military regime—is marked by recurrent political violence from its outset, including revolutionary left-wing terrorism and far-right attacks directed at both ideological opponents and the post-authoritarian democratic order. The dismantling of the 17 November organization in 2002 and subsequent counter-terrorism reforms altered the operating environment, yet violence does not disappear; it mutates.

The crisis decade intensified these dynamics. The December 2008 riots—triggered by the killing of a 15-year-old by a police officer—served as a catalyst for a new phase of radicalization and violent activism. This new phase was later reinforced by the financial crisis, austerity, and political opportunities linked to the refugee crisis and nationalist contention. This analysis shows how democratic stress, shifting political opportunities, and competing extremist ecosystems reshape targets, escalation, and organizational capacity—illuminating the conditions under which democracies absorb, deter, or normalize political violence. A further focus on organized violence highlights contrasting extremist ecologies. The discussion closes by linking patterns of violence to the emotional microfoundations of anti-democratic action—especially resentment, hope, and efficacy—as mechanisms that erode or sustain democratic engagement.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Lamprini Rori is Assistant Professor in Political Analysis at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She received a BA in International and European Politics from the University of Macedonia (Greece), a MA in Political Sociology and Public Policy from Sciences Po Paris (IEP) and a MA in Political and Social Communication from Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne University (France), where she also defended her PhD (2015). Her doctoral dissertation examined how the professionalization of political communication affected the organizational change of socialist parties in Europe from the mid-1970s until 2012. Before joining the University of Athens, she was a tenured Lecturer in Politics at Exeter University in the UK (2018-2021), Jean Monnet Fellow at the EUI (2020-2021), Early Career Fellow of the British School at Athens (2018-2019), post-doctoral fellow at the University of Oxford (2016-2017) and two-year EU Marie Curie Intra-European fellow (IEF), on the project “Social media and resurgent ethno-nationalism in Greece”, affiliated at Bournemouth University (UK) (2015-2017). 

Dr. Rori has led and participated in a range of funded research projects examining the relationship between online emotions, misinformation, hate speech, and political behaviour, as well as their links to offline political violence and hate crimes. Her research focuses on political behaviour in crisis-ridden Greece, including violent extremism and radicalisation, youth political behaviour, radicalism, and indignant movements, as well as the Greek diaspora. She has also conducted longitudinal analyses of Greek societal attitudes toward the United States. Her publications address party change, elections and campaigns, the far right and the far left in Europe, and patterns of political violence. In addition, she has coordinated national and European Voting Advice Applications, contributing to informed electoral participation and democratic engagement. 

She is currently member of the ECPR Steering Committee of the group on Political Violence, Member of Board of the Greek Political Science Association and Member of the Editorial Board of the Greek Social Sciences Review. For several years she has been member of board of the Greek Politics Specialist Group of the UK Political Studies Association, where she also served as Press Relations officer. Before academia, she worked as a political communications expert, drawing her experience form the French private sector (Agence Verte, Paris) and the Greek government.

EDWARD AND EMILY MCWHINNEY

The Edward and Emily McWhinney Memorial Lecture was established in 2017 to honour the memory of two long-time friends and supporters of Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University and is devoted to contemporary issues in international relations.

Both Edward and Emily were committed to academic excellence and public service and this annual lecture serves as a lasting legacy for the couple at SFU. It is organized by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies to support public discussion of the topics that animated the McWhinneys’ professional and intellectual lives.

Professor Emeritus Edward Mcwhinney, QC passed away in 2015 on his ninety-first birthday, following a short illness. He was predeceased by his wife Emily McWhinney, who passed away in 2011.