Greece in the 21st Century: The Politics and Economics of a Crisis

226 Pages·2018·2.985 MB·English

by  Vassilis K. Fouskas, Constantine Dimoulas (editors)

Greece in the 21st Century
For mostof the first partof the 21stcentury Greecehas been seen asa critical
battlefieldfor thesurvivalofthepowerfuland theadjustmentorextinction of
the weak, as if all the historical contradictions of the global financial crisis
and the eurozone crisis were concentrated in that tiny part of the world, with
a population of just 11 million people and a GDP of less than 2% of that of
the European Union as awhole. While the country has been overpowered by
the disciplinarian and deeply authoritarian policy mixof neoliberal/ordoliberal
rules, as this book attempts to show, there is hope. Defeat does not end the
crisis, and crisis means constant opportunity. In this state of affairs, all types
of agencies try to take advantage of the conditions and opportunities in order
to advance towards positions of power and provide the best of solutions for
theclassintereststheyrepresent.Thus,harshconflictisinevitableandifhistory
provides a yardstick, it is that in periods of conflict and crisis, the winner,
usually,isthe onewho manages tostrike the right political and socialalliances
at the right time.
The editors have assembled in this volume a number of interdisciplinary
chapters and argumentswhich, despite their differences, share the strategic aim
of a critique of both neoliberalism/ordoliberalism and new authoritarianism.
Chapters examine the eurozone crisis from avariety of angles with reference
to Greece, Greek politics and society. With this collection of heterodox and
scholarlyessays,theauthorsandeditorsaimtoofferaprogressiveunderstanding
ofcurrenthistoricalcircumstances.
Vassilis K. Fouskas is Professorof international politics and economics at the
University of East London, UK, and the founding editor of the Journal of
Balkan and Near Eastern Studies (Routledge/Taylor & Francis).
Constantine Dimoulas is an Assistant Professor in social administration and
evaluation of social programmes at Panteion University, Greece.
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Greece in the 21st Century
The Politics and Economics of a Crisis
Edited by
Vassilis K. Fouskas and
Constantine Dimoulas
Firstpublished2018
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Contents
List of illustrations vii
List of contributors ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction and Acknowledgments: What’s in the
Greek Cauldron? 1
VASSILISK.FOUSKASANDCONSTANTINEDIMOULAS
1 Eurozone Authoritarianism and the Neoliberal Project in Greece
and Southern Europe 13
KEESVANDERPIJL
2 Sovereign Debt or Balance-of-Payments Crisis?: Exploring the
Structural Logic of Adjustment in the Eurozone 40
MATTHIASKAELBERER
3 Greece and the Crisis of the Eurozone: A Structural Analysis 64
LEILASIMONATALANI
4 Is There Really a Eurozone Crisis? 84
TURANSUBASAT
5 Competing Explanations and Strategies for the Greek Crisis and
the Question of the Productive Model 105
STAVROSMAVROUDEAS
6 Internal Devaluation and Hegemonic Crisis (2010–16) 121
ELIASIOAKIMOGLOU
7 The ‘Politics of Fulfilment’ as Preliminary for the Making of a
Precarious State in Greece 142
MARIAMARKANTONATOU
vi Contents
8 The Political Effects of the Greek Economic Crisis: The Collapse
of the Old Two-Party System 163
ALEXANDERKAZAMIAS
9 Blaming the Other: An Enquiry into the Cultural and Political
Preconditions of the Greek Crisis 187
TOLISMALAKOS
Index 203
List of illustrations
Figures
3.1 General government consolidated gross debt, 1999–2010 67
3.2 Real GDP loss 2007–2010 68
3.3 Harmonized inflation rates, % changes: PIIGS and Germany 70
3.4 Balance on current account transactions with the rest of the
world: PIIGS and Germany, 1999–2010 70
3.5 Net exports of goods and services at current prices: PIIGS and
Germany, 1999–2010 71
3.6 Adjustedwage share:totaleconomyas a%of GDP,1999–2017 72
3.7 Italy: nominal ULC breakdown (2010 = 100) 73
3.8 Germany: nominal ULC breakdown (2010 = 100) 73
3.9 Portugal: nominal ULC breakdown (2010 = 100) 74
3.10 Spain: nominal ULC breakdown (2010 = 100) 74
3.11 Greece: nominal ULC breakdown (2010 = 100) 75
3.12 Ireland: nominal ULC breakdown (2010 = 100) 75
3.13 PIIGS real exchange rates: 2000–12 77
4.1 Current account balances in selected countries 91
4.2 The components of the current account balance in the
Eurozone Periphery 93
Tables
2.1 EMU Bond Yields 42
2.2 Consumer Price Index: HICP (1996 = 100) 44
2.3 Real GDP Growth (% change comparedwith previous year) 45
2.4 General Government deficit/surplus as % of GDP 47
2.5 Government Gross Debt as % of GDP 48
2.6 Current account balance with the rest of the world
(’000m. euros) 49
2.7 rent Account Balance as % of GDP 51
viii List of illustrations
4.1 The determinants of the current account disequilibrium in the
Eurozone periphery 95
4.2 The share of the eurozone core countries in the trade deficits of
the eurozone periphery 98
4.3 Recap—Any support for the eurozone crisis thesis? 100
Contributors
Constantine Dimoulas is an Assistant Professor in social administration and
evaluation of social programmes at Panteion University, Greece.
Vassilis K. Fouskas is Professorof international politics and economics at the
Universityof East London, UK, and the founding editorof the Journal of
Balkan and Near Eastern Studies (Routledge, six issues a year since 1999).
EliasIoakimoglouisEconomicAdvisertotheInstituteofLabour,thethink-tank
oftheGreekGeneralConfederationofWorkers(GGCW),Greece.
Matthias Kaelberer is Professor of political science and Chair of the Political
Science Department at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
Alexander Kazamias isSenior LecturerinpoliticsatCoventry University,UK.
Tolis Malakos is ResearchFellowintheCentreforContemporaryAristotelian
Studies in Ethics and Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK.
Maria Markantonatou is Lecturer in political sociology, University of the
Aegean, Greece.
Stavros Mavroudeas is Professor of political economy at the University of
Macedonia, Greece.
Kees van der Pijl is Professor Emeritus of international relations at the
University of Sussex, UK.
Turan Subasat is Professor of economics at Mug˘la Sitki Koҫman University,
Turkey.
Leila Simona Talani is Professor of international political economy at King’s
College London, UK.