The lowest tiers of government in Greece are municipalities and communes forming the first tier and the second being the prefectural administration. Since the 2011 Kallikratis Reform, there are 325 official municipalities. The principal means of addressing the economic crisis has been governmental austerity measures, which in turn have substantially influenced the public administration functioning and have led to reforms, including in local government operations . The first tiers of Greek local government are self-governing units. The Head of each municipality is chosen through a secret ballot and provides services to their people with no outside help. This means each municipality is similar to the larger cities of the United States. The individual municipalities are run by whom they elect and how they want without regulation from higher government. I believe that the crisis in Greek has a direct relation to the way their legal system is run. Yes, the Greek government has not gotten a break when it comes to the value of their currency or the influx of refugees, but change can take place. The United States is not perfect, but we find ways to lower unemployment rates increase GDP per capita and create an improving justice system. In 2014, the unemployment rate in the United States was 6.2% oppose to 26.6% in Greece . This leads to a plethora of problems beginning with the overall health of the economy. Greece’s unemployment rate may have something to do with their
Additionally, the Greek government has also implement healthcare and pension reforms, banning increases of pensions for at least three years. (Hewitt. Gavin, 2010). On the other hand, the super-national government ECB has also launched the Securities Market Program, which allows the ECB to start buying government bonds in order to fight the crisis. Hoping to able to pump more money
On a more local level there are governors, municipal governments, and mayors. The governors are elected by popular vote, but they were once appointed by the president. Each department has the right to establish lower governments known as municipal districts are. With in each district there is a municipal council which is elected by popular vote. The mayor is elected by popular vote to serve a two-year term, and just like the governors, the mayors used to be appointed by the presidents and controlled by the governor; all of this was changed with the 1991 constitution reform.
The Troika, made up of the International Monetary Fund, European Commissions and the European Central Bank have the most to lose in this debt crisis as they own 78% of Greek debt. With so much to lose we have seen European “bailout” agreements that mostly front the Greek government more money coupled with crippling austerity in an effort to “rebuild” the economy. Austerity discourages growth as it cuts the spending of the government who is by far the biggest spender in the economy. The effects of austerity can be devastating, but the true effects are often hidden beneath the messages we get from mainstream news sources. The stereotype of the Greek people as lazy and tax evading has desensitized the public and has made austerity seem like more of a sensible option. The media messages have made strict austerity measures seem justified and in effect have hegemozined the Greek people.
The country adopted the Euro in 2001, three years after many other EU countries had already done so, due to budget deficits the country was going through whilst under the drachma (Buchanan, 2015). As a result of their adoption of the Euro, they experienced a period of economic growth from 2001-2007, but many economists deemed it “unsustainable” due to the country taking out cheap loans through the EU (Buchanan, 2015). In 2008, when the global market crashed, Greece was unable to climb out of debt, as unlike in the past, where it could simply print more money, due to them being under the Euro, which is controlled by the European Central Bank, they were unable to do so. As a result, unemployment skyrocketed in the country, reaching heights of 25% (Buchanan, 2015). Following the beginning of the debt crisis, the number of terror incidents spiked from 18 in 2007 to 118 in 2009 (START, 2016a). As many domestic terror organizations in Greece are anti-capitalist, they likely blamed the foreign corporations and banks for the financial crisis and attacked their property as a result. When Greece was bailed out twice, once in 2010 and again in 2012, it unfortunately did not fix the problem as the money the country was given was simply turned around and used to pay off international debts rather than stimulate the economy (Buchanan, 2015). This failure to protect the investments of the Greek people may have led to another spike in incidents in 2013 (START,
The articles of confederation became the U.S. Constitution in 1787, after the article of the
The Greek city-states were way ahead of their time compared to the rest of the world. Greece was already creating democratic style government before it was “cool.” The reason for this was that the area of Greece was very hilly and rocky. Joining cities and being united as a single nation was not an easy task. So, each city basically ran itself.
Greece had a mountainous landscape so it was hard to develop a single central government. Greece’s typical political organization were city-states that used direct democracies. Each city state had a different governing style. A main factor that led to Greece’s fall was the lack of community due to the rise of feudalism in society, independence, and competitiveness. Alliances shifted constantly while tension and conflict increased between the rich and the
Greek government has gone through six stages of evolution throughout time. It started as a monarchy where basileus or kings ruled. These kings ruled polis or city-states, and the basileus controlled the city and surrounding countryside.
Last but not least is the Municipal government. The Municipal government has everything to do with cities, towns or districts (municipalities). Municipal government is responsible for parks, libraries, water systems, local police, roadways and parking. Municipal may be the lowest scale level of government but some things they are responsible have the potential to affect many citizens more
Ever since the end of 2009, Greece has been involved in a financial and economic crisis that has been record breaking and shattered world records in terms of its severity and worldwide effects. The Greek government, since the beginning of the crisis, has attempted to take several governmental measures to try and “stop the bleeding,” including economy policy changes, dramatic government spending and budget cuts and the implementation of new taxes for citizens. In addition to this, the government has tried to alter the perceptions of Greek government and economy by the rest of the world in an effort to appear both more liberal and more democratic. Greece has also been working to privatize many previous
First of all, the government is very corrupt. Also, there is lots of economic hardship, decreasing income, poverty, very limiting medical access, and an unemployment rate of 20-25% and 60%+ for teenagers. The government isn’t helping the people very much, and Greece is losing lots of money. Greece also has numerous debts that they aren’t able to pay off right
The sovereign debt crisis in Greece has attained several controversial bailouts which has caused a huge fuss to the Greek citizens and the tension of political instability in negotiation in the Eurozone. This literature review tends to answer 3 main questions as follows: (1) the causes of sovereign debt crisis in Greece, (2) the implication of the crisis currently and (3) the ways of mitigating the
The roots of Greece’s economic problems extend deep down into the recesses of history. After the government dropped the drachma for the euro in 2001, the economy started to grow by an average of 4% annually, almost twice the European Union average. Interest rates were low, unemployment was dropping, and trade was at an all-time high. However, these promising indicators masked horrible fiscal governance, growing government debt and declining current account balances. Greece was banking on the rapid economic growth to build upwards on highly unstable foundations. In 2008, the inevitable happened – the Greek debt crisis.
In 1999, ten European nations joined together to create an economic and monetary union known as the Eurozone. Countries, such as Germany, have thrived with the euro but nations, like Greece, have deteriorated since its adoption of the euro in 2001. The Eurozone was created in 1999 and currently consists of eighteen European nations united under the European Central Bank and all use the euro. The Eurozone has a one point six percent inflation rate and an eleven point six percent unemployment rate in 2014. Greece joined the Eurozone in 2001 and was the poorest European Union member at the time with a two point six percent inflation rate3 (James, 2000). Greece had a long economic history before joining the Eurozone. The economy flourished from 1960 to 1970 with low inflation and modernization and industrialization occurring. The market crash in the late 1970’s led Greece into a state of recession that the nation is still struggling with. Military failures, the PASOK party and the introduction of the euro have further tarnished Greece’s economic stability. The nation struggles with lack of competitiveness, high deficit, and inflation. Greece has many options like bailouts, rescue packages, and PPP to help dig it out of this recession. The best option is to abandon the Eurozone and go back to the drachma. Greece’s inflation and deficit are increasing more and more and loans and bailouts have not worked in the past. Leaving the Eurozone will allow Greece to restructure and rebuild
The involvement of the “troika” i.e European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund has helped Greece for two major bailout loan programs but in exchange has been dictating their domestic policies. Policies ranging from tax reforms, they have controlled wage cuts to the changes in regulations of even small domestic products. Failure to comply with Troika members may lead Greece to face a major default and may also lead to Euro exit but on the other hand upholding their policies is crushing the economic growth