Greece: Politics at the Crossroads
| Author | Roman Gerodimos |
| Date | 01 April 2013 |
| Published date | 01 April 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1111/2041-9066.12006 |
| Subject Matter | Feature |
centre-right New Democracy and the
centre-left PASOK), which for more
than three decades dominated the
political spectrum and consistently
received more than 80 per cent of the
national vote, was suddenly reduced
to 32 per cent in May 2012 and 42
per cent in June 2012 (see Figure 1).
Fractured Politics
The apparently irreversible collapse
of PASOK – which only in 2009 won
with a landslide – is profoundly im-
portant, as the party had been the
main pillar of Greek state and society
since 1981. PASOK paid a heavy
price, not only for the perceived
mismanagement of the debt crisis
and the austerity packages, but also
for the chronic and severe deficien-
cies of the public sector. Many of
PASOK’s top figures, former min-
isters and MPs, have either retired,
been voted out or been expelled
from the party as it has struggled
to stabilise its electoral base. The
party’s finances are in a dire state
Greece:
Politics at the Crossroads
The Greek political system is at a
crossroads. The period following
the restoration of democracy in
1974 (known as metapolitefsi) was
characterised by a stable two-party
system, a process of Europeanisation,
the reinforcement of civil liberties
and the welfare state, as well as by an
aspirational and consumerist culture
fuelled by high levels of education
and growth. This has also been a
period of systemic corruption, ac-
cumulated debt and repetitive public
administration failures.
While the precise timing of the end
of metapolitefsi has been a matter of
controversy amongst commentators,
it is quite clear that the debt crisis that
finally broke out in late 2009 marked
the beginning of the end for the
post-1974 political system. I argue
that the collapse of the Papandreou
government and the formation of the
Papademos coalition government in
November 2011 constitute the turn-
ing point, as the political system en-
tered a transitional period of tectonic
changes. The cumulative electoral
power of the two main parties (the
In Greece, violent extremism and social malaise have risen sharply in the wake of the country’s debt crisis and
subsequent austerity programme. These phenomena have deep historical roots and pose significant challenges
for Greek democracy, writes Roman Gerodimos.
The debt crisis
that nally
broke out
in late 2009
marked the
beginning of
the end for
the post-1974
political system
with many employees being unpaid
for months. The party’s leader and
former minister of finance, Mr Veni-
zelos, has been personally implicated
in a major scandal regarding the
handling of the so-called Lagarde list
– a database of thousands of Greek
holders of Swiss bank accounts.
The main characteristic of the
2009–2012 period was the retreat
of the traditional left/right cleavage
and the emergence of a pro-Euro
group versus an anti-Memorandum
cleavage, against the bailout agree-
ment, around which all political
parties mobilised. The pro-Euro
camp extended from the reform-
ist left through to the liberal right
(including the three partners of
the current coalition government),
while the latter camp attracted both
radical leftist parties (such as Syriza
and the Communist Party) as well as
the nationalist and xenophobic right
(including Independent Greeks and
the infamous Golden Dawn). That
division – which split the electorate
in half – determined both elections
held in 2012 with the pro-Euro camp
ultimately securing a parliamentary
majority and pushing ahead with the
austerity programme.
As December’s extension of the
European Union/International Mon-
etary Fund bailout has eased the
pressure on Greece’s presence in the
Eurozone and as the measures are
becoming a reality, that social cleav-
age will become increasingly irrel-
evant. Hence, the political system is
currently in a process of realignment,
seeking a new dividing line and also
the actors who will populate it. Im-
portantly, that temporary division
regarding the bailout negotiations
was an expression of a much more
FIGURE 1 Electoral share of Greece’s two main parties (1974–2012)
1974 1977 1981 1985 1989
(Jun)
1989
(Nov)
1990 1993 1996 2000 2004 2007 2009 2012
(May)
2012
(Jun)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
New Democracy
PASOK
16
Political Insight
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