Last month, the Democratic Left party left Greece’s coalition government, leaving PASOK and New Democracy with a razor-thin majority and the expectation of fresh elections for the country. Nikitas Konstantinidis argues that Greece’s political system has become much more fragmented in the wake of the crisis, with voters also now paying more attention to populist promises than parties’ ability to deliver change. Party competition in Greece has also been further constrained by the intervention of the EU and the Troika into domestic political life, severely limiting policy alternatives.
Despite a somewhat promising start, the coalition government of New Democracy (ND), PASOK, and the Democratic Left proved to be short-lived, giving way last month to a more compact bipartisan cabinet consisting of only ND and PASOK ministers (at an agreed ratio of two-to-one). Toiling under the shackles of a sclerotic austerity program, the first few true attempts at structural reform and downsizing of the wider public sector have met with mixed reactions and caused the three-party coalition government to implode. This is only the first episode in a new political era of short-lived coalition governments with shifting partisan compositions.
Does this necessarily pose cause for concern? Well, considering the fact that the prior well-entrenched two-party system was the main culprit for numerous misgivings in state affairs, this might seem as a welcome change. Complacency, a sense of impunity, and well-orchestrated political adversarialism were the hallmarks of Greek politics in the period leading up to the Big Crash. The ‘cartelization’ of the political market by two catch-all parties (PASOK and ND), who alternated in power throughout the era of the Metapolitefsi (1974-2012), was further bolstered by patronage politics and self-perpetuating clientelistic networks; once the public sector ‘bubble’ burst, this heretofore impenetrable system started crumbling like a house of cards. Party defectors were either left to linger as independents in the political wilderness or moved to smaller splinter parties on either side of the ideological spectrum (e.g., ANEL, DIMAR, SYRIZA). In an environment of increased political mobility, everyone is now jockeying for position and striving for political survival in anticipation of the next round of elections.
The Greek party system (among others in Europe) is currently undergoing a rapid process of fragmentation and polarization. In political science, the degree of party fragmentation is usually measured by the ‘effective’ number of parties in terms of the allocation of parliamentary seats and various power indices that measure the decisiveness of different parties in the formation of a majority coalition. According to the inverse sum of squared seat shares index, Greece was a solid two-and-a-half party system throughout the 1990s and 2000s (just like the UK). The shocking results of the May 2012 elections marked a rise in the ‘effective’ number of parliamentary parties to 4.83, which was subsequently consolidated to 3.76 because of the special strategic and highly politicized character of the June 2012 elections (with membership in the Eurozone hanging on the balance and an enormous amount of pressure exercised from Europe). Figure 1 below traces the evolution of the index over time (1990-2012).
Figure 1 – Effective number of parties in Greece (1990-2012) by votes and seats
Concurrently, parties are becoming more ideologically compact, but also less effective in terms of the disbursement of political rents (‘pork’). The loss of heretofore loyal and steady ‘clienteles’ has shifted electoral competition from the dimension of valence to the level of rhetoric and ideology. Voters are now paying more attention to publicly proclaimed ideas and less so to parties’ ability to perform and deliver. Another emerging aspect in the strategic calculus of voting is parties’ perceived ability to be part of and to form viable and ideologically cohesive coalitions. On the other hand, the vote for anti-systemic extremist parties (e.g., Greek Communist party, Chrysi Avgi) and their uncompromising and obsessive attachment to a monolithic set of beliefs represents a form of protest against the coalition politics of a moderate center. Partisanship levels have plummeted; the political marketplace has become more open bestowing essential advantages to newcomers, while new partisan labels have become politically expedient as symbols of a break with a sinful past. Naturally, there is a significant learning curve involved in this transition to coalition politics. Henceforth, coalition governments are bound to become more durable and cohesive, as politicians are schooled in the give-and-take of coalition politics and appropriate mechanisms of compromise and consensus are gradually being put into place.
At the same time, the ideological space has become more constrained, in the sense that the extremes have converged and that credible and internally consistent programmatic proclamations now have fewer degrees of freedom. The decrease in the effective number of dimensions of domestic partisan competition is a direct consequence of the country’s international commitments and its position within a globalized and interconnected environment; membership, for example, of the EU and the EMU have given rise to an inescapable and concrete policy framework. Nowadays, ‘high politics’ effectively amounts to a small set of dichotomous choices and decisions with respect to the country’s position within a dense network of supranational governance. In that sense, the ad hoc Troika (European Commission, ECB, IMF) acts as a ‘censor’ of domestic political life. In light of the a wider consensus on Greece’s position within that network (or effectively on its overall level of openness), the most salient policies that trickle down to the regional and local levels are now ‘imported’ from or ‘imposed’ by foreign loci of power.
This self-imposed ‘straitjacket’ does of course generate a lot of frustration in the expression of the people’s democratic instincts, as they often feel handicapped in the face of global policy challenges that fall beyond the remit of the liberal democratic institutions of the nation state (see, for example, immigration, financial regulation, fiscal adjustment, environmental degradation, etc.). Such feeling of popular frustration is often voiced through heightened populist rhetoric that relies on (unfounded) assumptions about the intentions and interests of foreign governments, actors, and institutions, or even through mass movements of civil disobedience. In other words, the increased polarization, fragmentation, and popular delegitimization of the Greek political system are symptoms of the incompatibility of national democratic institutions with the country’s international position.
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Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.
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Nikitas Konstantinidis – LSE Government Department
Dr Nikitas Konstantinidis is a Fellow in Political Science and Public Policy in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also a member of the Greek Public Policy Forum steering committee. He came to the LSE after spending two years as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institut Barcelona d’ Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). His main research interests lie in the areas of comparative and international political economy, applied formal theory, regional integration, international organizations, and European Union politics.
EU practices double standards in civil rights. It’s freakish for EU to interfere in the civil rights of foreigners, but condone the abuse of civil rights of Greek dissident bloggers, who are citizens of EU!
There is no justice in Greece for dissident bloggers. The Greek government is so stupid, so brutal, so freakish, and so barbarous that it robs, persecutes, and terrorizes dissident bloggers! The Greek government is a major enemy of blogosphere.
Ex-officio law suit autepageltos αυτεπαγγελτος, the most dreadful word in justice, means the state sues somebody without involvement of the accuser. This terrible scheme has been used by Graecokleptocrats to persecute dissident bloggers. A Graecokleptocrat would sue an innocent dissident blogger, and the Graecokleptocrat wouldn’t show up in court, because the state takes over the position of the accuser!
On October 18, 2010, a gang of six brutal policechimps of the violent Greek Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) broke into my home in Athens and into my college office, and stole my computers, software, files, documents, and personal data. The policechimps locked me in jail for a night, they humiliated me with handcuffs, fingerprints, mug shots, and lies, leaked false information to the media parrots, and the Greek government initiated sham ex-officio court proceedings for a stack of stupid fictitious freakish charges! There was neither pillow nor toilet facility in my jail cell. I had to urinate in a bottle! I, a 68 years old with high blood pressure, was not allowed to keep my hypertension pills with me. There was neither toilet paper nor soap in the whole CCU jail facility.
At the ex-officio law suit, the accuser just hits and runs! This hit-and-run justice is the most disgusting justice on Earth. In all civilized nations, the accused is in a position to face his accuser eyeball to eyeball, but not in Greece. Just think about it for a while. The accuser slings false accusations against you, the state takes over, and the accuser disappears from court!
The court trial is postponed infinite times to break the nerves of the innocent blogger at great cost of time and money. This is a disgusting punishment of the presumed innocent. Justice delayed is justice denied. Justice perpetuated is hell. The Greek government uses the ex officio law suit as a political tool. This has happened to me too!
Graecokleptocrats just hit dissident bloggers with false accusations and run! Correspondents of http://venitism.blogspot.com report that agony of perpetual delay of trial in Greece is being used as a punishment of the innocent without trial. Greek justice is a spider web, catching small prey and swallowing them, while allowing crocodiles to penetrate and dominate it. Visiting Greek prisons, you could see all les miserables that fill them up, but you could not find any kleptocrats.
Giving cybercensorship to blogbusters is giving gin to alcoholics! Blogbusters galore! Hit and run is freakish behavior against dissident bloggers. Freak! Freak! Freak! The freakish government of Greece, the most corrupt country in Europe, steals computers! Robbing dissident bloggers and locking them in jail is a freakish behavior that does not belong to the European Union, not even to this galaxy! No wonder some vain Greeks boast they come from Andromeda galaxy!
The persecution of Greek dissident bloggers is a worrying example of how freedom on the net is under increasing threat. As more people use cyberspace to communicate, obtain information, express their views, socialize, and conduct commerce, governments are stepping up their efforts to regulate and control it. Tight control on the internet impinges on our freedom of speech, association and assembly. And it means that violations of other civil rights are kept away from us.
Persecuting dissident bloggers, the outlaw government of Greece violates Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty, which states the European Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, nondiscrimination, tolerance, and justice prevail.
Greece also violates Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.
Greece also violates Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Greece also violates Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which states that every citizen has the right to freedom of expression. This right includes freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.
I am Greek living in Athene since many decades ago and I would like to comet in your article about of European unemployment rates.
European police makers are always wrong in their assumption about how they ultimately measured the unemployment index rate because their estimates differ from country to country.
When they want to share unemployment benefits they measured unemployment index rate including those who are already at the time of measured in workforce of individual States.
In other hand when Eurostat announced unemployment index rates among European individual member countries – whether a country is already active member of European Parliament or it belong to Eurozone States members- they wrongly rise unemployment index rate including those who had never been active members in workforce of individual country at the time of measured.
I am confident that they finally must decide which method they want to follow in order to measure the estimated unemployment index rate of individual members.
You can not estimate as unemployed someone who has never been part of workforce as well as you share unemployment benefits in your area.
You must decide and select on which method you want to calculate unemployment index rate in your member State because the opinions are deferred among E.U States.
Bringing in to focus the famous Greek false estimated youths unemployment index rate Greek policy makers ought to decide to select a common method of measurement because media channels announced 60% unemployment index or above for obvious reason to cover and include as unemployed those who had never worked.
Countries youths population are differed and it is estimated for Greeks region around 27% of population including those who are already children at home or those who are in intermediate level of education or at the university besides of that youths technically risen unemployment rate include youths population whose for obvious reason have never worked or have never been organically part of Greeks workforce.
Consequently when Greeks false announced risen youths unemployment index rate at 60% they simply referred at initial 27% which is their current youths population of the country and from initial point of 27% which is Greeks youth population its impossible to estimate as unemployed all your youth population were taking part at the time of measured in your workforce.
If unemployment rate index was at 60% you will have social unrest which currently does not exist in Greek region and cant explain few demonstrators in big Greek cities counted a few thousands and the rest of Greek population at homes.
It is easily to figure it out when you hear the shared unemployment benefit among people because they only receive compensations those who were already organically part of current Greek workforce and because of crisis they lost their permanent or temporally job.
To everyone its almost impossible and simultaneously wrong assumption to measure an estimated index using two opposite measures for obvious reason to cover your lazy spoiled youths whose they don’t want to work in outdoor works and to disrupt relative discipline among E.U States.
Greeks youths unemployment index rate may be more complicated than it appears to be because Greek policy makers are unwilling to impose familiar methods taken from financial institutions .
Furthrmore Greek youths have been risen and have the privilege to obtain additional wealth taken from their parents and therefore are unwilling to work outdoor works as many migrants do in Greece.
Another hidden parameter of Greeks current unemployment is to change the direction of the already received education which is unfortunately impracticable for spoiled Greek youths so both solutions are practically implausible and lead to an impasse.
First of all E.U member States leaders ought to decide and finally agree in which method they will follow in the future to measure in Europe States the technically risen youths unemployment or the shared among adults social unemployment benefits compensations.
As native Greek officer I am confident that ,Greeks pegged forgiveness from E.U States for their desperate situation furthermore it reminds me the story of a pupil who is in charge because it has previously killed its parents and it implores forgiveness and charity from judges because it is orphan.
Horrible situation if we consider that Greek suicides index has been skyrocketed at 6000 people and Greek Prime Minister Mr Antonis Samaras desperately claim Greeks Success story although he has lost his pride
Signs from the sin of pride of Greeks Prime Minister Mr Antonis Samaras and his seasoned anecdote “Success Story” along side with Greeks spoiled youths new generation unwillingly to work in outdoor works as many immigrant who is proud living in Greece.