Redesigning the Architecture of Greek Local Government

The ongoing European debt crisis has singled out the peripheral economies of the European South by shedding light on their latent pathologies and malfunctions. Often viewed as an epitome of a ‘Mediterranean’ model of political and economic organization, Greece gave utmost expression to those ills pertaining to a weak and inefficient social contract. The Greek post-dictatorial political economic system has been marked by an explosive mix of statism, welfarism, and popular distrust of public institutions that eventually gave way to a downward spiral of state degradation and social degeneration. The country has thus been trapped in a self-enforcing vicious cycle of low state (fiscal and legal) capacity, high policy implementation costs, and depreciating social capital.

Reforming Greek Industrial Relations: Towards a Better Social Partnership

The Problem

Greek industrial relations have been plagued by imbalanced state interference and weak representation which have significantly hindered the development of a vibrant, strong and similar to other EU countries social partnership. Historically, Greek social partners have lacked independence, failed to adequately represent Greece’s working population and had a very narrow set of priorities. These features of the Greek employment relations system exacerbate social injustice, socioeconomic inequalities and pose additional challenges to Greek democracy. This proposal seeks to suggest novel policy measures to strengthen both quantitatively and qualitatively Greek social partnership.