Wildfires in Greece (2018–2024) as a Socio-Natural Phenomenon: A Sociological Analysis in the Context of the Climate Crisis

DeMond S. Miller () and Sotirios Chtouris ()
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DeMond S. Miller: Rowan University
Sotirios Chtouris: University of the Aegean, Department of Sociology

Chapter Chapter 5 in Disasters and the Politics of Trauma, 2026, pp 49-61 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Between 2018 and 2024, Greece experienced an alarming increase in the frequency, intensity, and scale of wildfires. These disasters cannot be understood solely through a natural or technological lens but must be viewed as socio-natural phenomena—events resulting from the complex interplay between environmental conditions, institutional responses, and social dynamics. This chapter provides a brief analysis of major wildfire events in Greece, including the 2018 Mati disaster, the 2023 Evia and Alexandroupolis fires, and the systemic issues in governance and response. Using a mixed-methods framework, this chapter draws on quantitative and qualitative data, interpretative narratives, and methodological tools such as triangulation and empirical dialectical realism to examine how climate change, governance structures, and collective agency [Hewson (Agency and Structure in Social Theory, 2010)] co-produce disaster outcomes. The findings underscore the necessity for integrated risk governance, central coordination, and the incorporation of community knowledge and social behavior in wildfire policy and practice.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:rischp:978-3-032-19030-7_5

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-19030-7_5

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