Review of History and Political Science

Transformation of Policies and Politics in Greece towards and inside the European Union 1950-2012
Chrisanthos D. Tassis

Abstract
This paper reevaluates the European process of Greece since the end of the civil war until 2012 when the post – dictatorship party system seems to change in a fundamental way. The paper argues that the European perspective of the country is based mainly on political and not on economic criteria during both the predictatorship and the Metapolitefsi period, on the doctrine “Greece belongs to the West” in order to ensure that Greece will remain at the western economic system. After the fall of the dictatorship PASOK managed to express the radicalism of the Greek society for a new political party system and the strong opposition about the European prospect of the country. However, since the 1980’s the policy of the socialist party towards the EU has changed. Since then, drastic transformations take place in the Greek party system as the mass structure of the parties was undermined and the cartelization of politics became the basic paradigm, along with the strong influence of private mass media. The analysis concludes that the political crisis which coexists to the economic crisis seems to explain the collapse of the Metapolitefsi party system and the objections towards the EU.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/rhps.v3n2a5