EXTREME RIGHT MOVEMENTS AND STATES IN MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE, 1945-1989
The parties of the extreme right, especially those in the countries of Southern Europe, were not a direct continuation of those which existed before and during the Second World War. When the Axis powers collapsed, the fascist parties had to find a way to insert themselves into a new geopolitical order. As a result, they tried to fight against Communism but also, by subversive means, against the democratic systems in their respective nations, especially during the Algerian War in France, then during the post-1968 years in Italy. The ideological renewal which took place after 1945, as well as the cul-de-sac of violent action, led right-radical militants to devise new means of political action, above all in the domain of culture. This gave birth to the “New Right.” After the Vichy regime had been overthrown in France, national Catholic-inspired governments remained in power only in Portugal and Spain. The Cold War, the end of colonization and the Second Vatican Council also led Catholic fundamentalists to move their pattern of action onto the cultural sphere. The only real extreme right regime that emerged after 1945 was the Greek dictatorship, and its coming to power was a direct result of the Cold War. However, it was quickly overthrown after it orchestrated an expansionist coup in Cyprus. The extreme right was doomed to failure when it tried to impose its rule outside of its own national borders. On the other hand, more perceptive extremists understood that there was a demand for populist parties to contest elections within the framework of democracy. These changes in the activities of the extreme right were subject to the balance of power between the East and the West and they were made more difficult by the delegitimizing of everything associated with the regimes which were defeated in the Second World War.