Greckie przywództwo polityczne w drugiej połowie XX w. – uwarunkowania i charakter

Abstract

Greek political leadership in the 2nd half of the 20th century: context and character

Over the centuries, difficult living conditions in Greece contributed to the development of the client‑patron system as a way of providing subsistence for the generally poor population. Following the establishment of the independent Greek state in 1830, clientelism was absorbed into the nation’s political life. Greek political leadership in the 2nd half of the 20th century remained under the pressure of this time‑honored heritage. The state’s social role was regarded as a priority for the Greeks by both the right of Konstantinos Karamanlis and the left of Andreas Papandreou. The leaders did not break away from clientelism even in the context of the stabilization of democracy after 1950. Quite the contrary, they developed it by transforming former clientelist relations into the system of sociopolitical control over the state, with the political parties and their administrative apparatus becoming the principal instrument for exercising this control. As a result, partisan clientelism emerged with electorates as its beneficiaries. Their attention focused on the perfecting of the system to which the state and national economy would eventually fall victim. In the later 1990s, with the deaths of K. Karamanlis and A. Papandreou, the time of charismatic leadership in Greek politics came to an end but the system they created has continued.