Crisis, Reform and the Way Forward in Greece: A Turbulent Decade (Europa Perspectives on the EU Single Market)

This volume discusses different aspects of Greece’s political economy during the past decade and reflects on the country’s path ahead, examining the major question: did this challenging period succeed in providing a window of opportunity for deeper institutional and societal change? The authors seek to contribute to the discussion of the dynamics of stability and change, of the nexus between external pressure and domestic agency.

Greece offers a most interesting case study, as much in analytical as in empirical terms. Never before did a euro area member require three macroeconomic adjustment programmes under stringent policy conditionality and external supervision. This experience shattered past certainties and reshaped the political landscape. A decade later Greece was starting to recover and received international recognition for its reform efforts. However, the COVID-19 pandemic provided an external shock that risks derailing such achievements.

The volume includes chapters by academics and researchers from different professional backgrounds: history, economics, public law, political science, public administration and political economy. Their diverse experience and viewpoints contribute to multidimensional analyses in subject areas such as Greece’s constitutional structure, public sector reforms, labour market developments, China’s expanding investment footprint and product market reforms.

Calliope Spanou is Professor of Administrative Science and Public Administration at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. From 2011-2015 she was the Greek Ombudsman and she served as Deputy Ombudsman in 2003-2011. She has extensive experience in administrative reform in Greece and in other countries. She holds a PhD (Doctorat d’Etat) in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Picardie, France. She has been guest researcher or professor in various academic institutions in Europe, including the Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris France, and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italy.