The political “stability” of the post-1974 period in Greece was accompanied by a major slowdown in economic growth and the country’s bankruptcy in 2010. Greek democracy is dysfunctional because the political parties adopt a highly ideological approach and tend to subvert the policies and reforms of previous governments.
By Steve Bakalis
The emphasis regarding the completion of fifty years since the restoration of democracy in Greece, and the beginning of the post-1974 period, is mainly focused on the dialogue about the political developments.
However, in the background of these developments is also the launch in 1974 of a new constitutional course, namely the transition from the 1952 Constitution, which was par excellence liberal, to the 1975 Constitution, which imposed the sovereignty of the state over the citizens.
Between 1952 and 2024 the dictatorship presented a new Constitution in 1968 which was ratified in a referendum that year, and a newer one in 1973, also ratified by a referendum in 1973.
New constitution in Greece
This ceased to have effect in the aftermath of its downfall in 1974, a new constitution was drawn up by the fifth Revision Parliament ( Αναθεωρητική Βουλή) which came into force on June 11, 1975. It is still in force today as revised in 1986, 2001, 2008 and 2019. But the 1952 Constitution was in essence liberal compared to the statist/centralized Constitution of 1975.
The ensuing political “stability” in relation to the post-1974 period was accompanied by a major slowdown in economic growth and the country’s bankruptcy in 2010.
In particular, average annual growth over the period 1974-2022 fell to ≈1% from ≈7% which it was the previous 20 years. In recent years some conditions have been created and imposed on Greece for political “normality” and the European supervision has contributed to a degree to prevent the advance of political party “armies” to plunder the public budget, and this supervision has become more stringent.
While the most valuable good that a responsible political order should protect is political stability, if we exclude the smoothness of the succession of parties in the governance of the country, which has indeed been consolidated and is a decisive indicator of the political stability of the Greek republic, other sub-indicators of the political stability index are lagging behind (Source: “Post-1974-Greece: Another Evaluation” (Μεταπολίτευση: Μια άλλη αποτίμηση) by Emeritus Professor G.C. Bitros).
Political stability and democracy in Greece
In this context, Greek democracy is dysfunctional because the political parties adopt a highly ideological approach and tend to subvert policies and reforms of previous governments which had a popular mandate to implement them in the socio-economic mechanism.
A typical example (among others) is the repeal by the Tsipras government (2015-2019) of the educational reform of the previous government, which was even voted for by an unusually large majority of the parliament. There is a perennial reluctance to reform due to the fear of rejection by the next government. Clearly, however, a new government, as happens in strong democracies, must build on the work of the previous one.
The constitutional revision of 1974 contributed to the bureaucracy with which the sovereignty of the state was imposed on the citizens, and the need to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and liberation from its Kafkaesque nature was also a point of reference for Elon Musk, head of the new “Ministry Government Effectiveness’ in America.
He specifically said: “Indeed, the obstacles are overcoming the Kafkaesque nature of the rules governing this vast bureaucracy and ensuring that maniacally committed small-government revolutionaries join this administration!”
Greek bureaucracy
Incidentally, the term Kafkaesque refers to a situation that is almost surreal and oppressive and is associated with the surname of Franz Kafka, a famous writer, to whom the following saying is attributed:
An idiot is an idiot;
Two idiots are two idiots;
Ten thousand idiots is a political party.
Some studies attribute this saying to the Italian satirist and journalist Leo Longanesi and his book “Parliamo dell’Elefante: Frammenti di un Diario” (“Let’s talk about the elephant: fragments of a diary”).
While the term idiot is translated as a moron or stupid today, however, in Ancient Greece an idiot was a private citizen, who did not actively participate in public affairs or politics. Today it is clear that these private individuals have penetrated the Kafka-like Greek political landscape, as well as the mechanism of the Greek bureaucracy, and through the parties they chase citizens’ votes, political advancement, and personal prominence. For these Kafka idiots, the preservation and increase of their assets with the support of the 1975 Constitution is of particular importance.
This Kafka-like political system cannot help but encourage the division of the high values and ideals that govern a truly prosperous society, and the citizens are themselves responsible for their choices when they trust inappropriate political figures (or idiots) to manage the “common” people in a fragile statist (constitutional) environment.
Dr. Steve Bakalis is an expert in international business education and management, has worked with the Australian National University, the University of Adelaide, and in administrative positions in universities in Asia-Pacific and the Arab States of the Persian Gulf.
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