Cold War ’Bras de Fer’: Propaganda, Mobilisation, and Repression in Greece

This paper examines how Cold War dynamics shaped political institutions through the lens of electoral violence and its long-term effects. Focusing on Greece, we exploit variation in clandestine communist radio signal strength as an instrument for local party mobilisation. We show that stronger exposure to propaganda increased leftist electoral success in 1958, which in turn triggered state-led violence in the 1961 elections. Using newly digitised archival data and survey evidence, we document that this repression not only suppressed votes in the short run but also led to lasting declines in institutional trust and social capital. Our findings reveal how Cold War-era political interventions left a deep and enduring imprint on democratic engagement.