Despite the scandals and the increase in violence towards vulnerable communities, Uribe and his government still had an extremely high approval rating. His popularity may be explained as a result of the majority of citizens benefitting from his policies because while they violate human rights, they function as mechanisms that support and enhance his success in delivering stability to Colombia’s middle and upper-classes. Moreover, Uribe did not address critics of his government or the media, instead he created a discourse that his government and its policies were responsible for successfully combatting the guerrillas and cartels and improving the economy. Thus many Colombians may have chosen to continue supporting him because they saw his clandestine government tactics as necessary.

Based on a historiographical, archival and media analysis, this doctoral thesis explores the phenomenon of parakratos (translated as deep state or parastate) in post-civil war Greece (1949-1967). Research perspectives are fourfold: Firstly, parakratos is discussed in the context of academic debates on parapolitics and the concepts of the dual state, the security state and the deep state; and presented as a Cold War parallel power mechanism, analogical to Italy and Turkey. Secondly, parakratos is analysed as part of domestic political reality through the prism of the historical events documented in Greek historiography. In this sense, the thesis concentrates on the emergence and operation of clandestine military groups and parastate ultra- nationalist organisations against the backdrop of the Greek political, legal and social environment. Both phenomena are elaborated on through the lens of the inefficient Greek political and administrative system, a deeply divided society, the politicisation of the public space, and the persistence of clientelist networks constructed upon political loyalties. Third, the parakratos is examined on an interpretative level as a term and concept employed in Greek historiography. Focusing on its presumed roots, actors, purposes and relations with the state, three...