When I was last in Greece, for a reporting trip in May 2012, Syriza, a political party whose name is an acronym for “coalition of the radical left,” had recorded shockingly strong results in a recent election. The centrist, mainstream sources I was meeting with — such as bankers and ex-politicians — were nervous about what Syriza supporters, whom they viewed as wackos, meant for their country.

It’s nearly three years later, and Syriza has now triumphed completely, taking charge of Greece’s government. And what is remarkable is how utterly calm the reaction is.

Greek stock and bond markets sold off sharply, but elsewhere in Europe markets were mostly up. The euro currency was actually up a bit against the dollar Monday. In newspapers across Europe, there is some tut-tutting about the leftists who will now run Greece, but hardly what you would call panic.

Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, has spent the last few years building a reputation as something more than a radical agitator; he positioned Syriza to be a governing party rather than a protest party. He has met with financiers and government officials across Western Europe to build relationships. A version of his message to them is in this article he wrote for The Financial Times last week, arguing that a rejection of austerity policies was the best hope for keeping Greece as a stable European democracy. (Nothing says coalition of the radical left like publishing one’s manifesto in The Financial Times.)