Milton Friedman, the father of Neoliberalism, was an intelligent man without doubt. Already in 1982 he had realized that in order for the citizens of any given state to be persuaded to give up on the welfare provisions they were enjoying, a kind of an emergency situation had to be created: “a crisis –real or [...]
During his recent European road show to London, Paris and Frankfurt, the Greek finance minister Papaconstantinou sought to highlight Greece’s achievements in fiscal consolidation during 2010 and provide an economic outlook for 2011. Papaconstantinou was accompanied by representatives from the so-called troika (IMF, European Union and European Central Bank). The troika’s presence was indicative of [...]
The financial crisis has finally catalyzed an awareness of the Greek economy’s long-standing problems, including development, modernization, corruption and clientelistic relations within the political parties. It is clear that the crisis will also have long term consequences for Greece’s security and foreign relations. In this respect, Erdogan’s visit to Athens on May 14-15 gave rise [...]
It was already in the early 1990s when Nikiforos Diamandouros and Nikos Mouzelis, two eminent Greek scholars, were writing about the conflict between two dominant political cultures in Greece: the ‘underdog’ culture (notably a pre-democratic culture favouring clientelistic networks of power, bearing a strong imprint of the Orthodox Church and its anti-Western world view, with [...]
A. The story of the economic crisis is daily unfolding before the eyes of a stunned audience. The show is new, the parts and casting have recently been distributed and the audience is still unclear whether the play is a tragedy, a soap opera, a Chekhov play or an opera buffa. What is certain is [...]
Greece has attracted in recent weeks a great deal of rather unwanted and unsavoury attention due to its ailing state finances. The EU Council Meeting of 11 February fell short of announcing a bailout package; it stressed, however, European support for the Greek governments’ fiscal austerity programme and underlined that European authorities would support Greece’s [...]
‘Greek misery’, ‘Hellenic precipice’ or unwelcome comparisons with Dubai and Iceland, who both cannot repay their debts. Truly, the headlines about Greece since the start of the New Year could hardly be more telling. They are similar to a Greek tragedy. However, the final act has yet to be completed in Athens. The macro and [...]
Will Greece follow Dubai World into financial turmoil? Is putting matters in this alarmist tone fear mongering or the expression of a conspiracy theory? The flip-side of this question is the no less reassuring issue how realistic the expectation is that eurozone membership will once again protect Greece from itself and/or from speculative attack? Whoever [...]
ELIAMEP, in light of China emerging as a global geopolitical and economic power, organized a bilateral open meeting with the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) on “China-EU Relations”. Read the interview with Professor Ye Jiang, Director of European Studies of the SIIS. ELIAMEP: China-EU High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue is an important platform aimed [...]
Corruption is regressive. It affects foremost the marginalized sectors of society and its impact is felt more by the poor and the citizens of countries where resources are scarce. It serves as a subversive mechanism for democracy and popular participation, breeding cynicism, distrust and apathy while undermining the legitimacy of state institutions. If all of [...]
