Griechenlands Krisenzyklen seit der Unabhängigkeit: Gründe und Erklärungsansätze
Greece’s Crisis Cycle since Independence: Reasons and Approaches

Summary/Abstract: The paper explores the causes of the ongoing Greek crisis by placing it in a broader historical context that reaches back to the formation of the Greek state and society in the 19th century. Focusing on vital aspects of the economic and political development, the paper argues that in the first century of Greek statehood, external dependency from the European Great Powers in combination with indigenous jingoism as dominant ideology posed serious impediments not only to the country’s modernization, but equally to the emergence of state loyalty (Raison d´état) among the political elites. This impediment is a characteristic phenomenon of semicolonial societies. However, the paper also shows that the Greek state in the course of the 20th century has repeatedly proved to be highly crisis resistant and capable of dealing even with the most serious challenges, thus disproving continuity-myths of Greek mismanagement that currently figure prominently in the media. The paper concludes with a critical depiction of the developments since full EC accession in 1981, taking into account that the reasons for political failures and lost opportunities in this period have been (and continue to be) not the least ideological by nature.

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