Downloaded by [82.28.181.28] at 02:36 18 February 2016 ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES 5 violence challenges official narratives of anti-migrant violence as the product on individual motivations and pathologies (Blee 2005), since it sees violence as embedded in social practices and discourses. Despite the lack of official data, there is considerable evidence that Greek security agencies have consistently exercised violence – verbal and physical, amounting in extreme cases to torture – in their interactions with migrants (AI 1992, 2012; Cabot 2014; Cheliotis 2013; CHR 2013). Violent practices such as preventing the arrival of migrant boats, forcible refoulement and shootings of migrants have been regularly observed during border controls (Amnesty International 2015; Christopoulos 2014). Similarly, mistreatment of migrants has been recorded during the exercise of internal controls such as identity checks, arrests for immigration or other offences, or arrest-anddeport operations such as Xenios Zeus in 2012 (AI 2012; Baldwin-Edwards 2005; Cheliotis 2013; CPT 2001; HRW 2012). While Greek security agencies also use excessive force against Greek citizens (AI 2012; Xenakis 2013), and they are not exceptional in engaging in violent practices, the systemic and institutionalized employment of violence against migrants is related to the social and historical functions of the Greek security agencies. Historically, the police and the military have been tasked with protecting the nation against both internal, political enemies – such as communists post-war – and external threats (Antonopoulos 2006; Christopoulos 2014). Rooted in the authoritarian legacies of Greek democracy, these tendencies account for a culture of unaccountability and impunity since violence against migrants is seen as legitimate defence against an external threats (Christopoulos 2014; Tsoukala 2005; Xenakis 2013). In addition, a weak culture of human rights meant that since state institutions have prioritized collective interests and national security (Papapantoleon 2014). Accordingly, not only the police, but also the justice system have failed to systematically address violence against migrants, characterized by deficiencies in matters of investigating and prosecuting, lack of impartiality in administrative and judicial procedures, excessive delays and overtly lenient sanctions (AI 2012; CHR 2013; Ombudsman 2013; Papapantoleon 2014; Pavlou 2009). 3. Methodology I adopt a CDA approach in order to explore how institutional actors in Greece have constructed anti-migrant violence and justified responses and practices related to it. For CDA discourses are articulated by social actors and institutions in specific historical, social and political contexts and are interrelated with social institutions and practices (Fairclough 2009; Reisigl and Wodak 2009). Not only do they shape the construction of social problems but they are also instrumental, through argumentation, in legitimating policy responses to them (Fairclough and Fairclough 2012; Reisigl and Wodak 2009).