Left-wing populism in Greece: The state and bureaucracy under populist rule
https://doi.org/10.28995/2073-6339-2025-3-73-85
Abstract
The article considers the influence of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) on the development of Greece’s public sector and bureaucracy since the 1980s, placing particular emphasis on the nationalization of private companies and the marked increase in the number of civil servants. It argues that PASOK’s policies during that period were inherently populist and contributed to the establishment of a large-scale clientelist system, in which party affiliation decided access to government positions – ultimately compromising managerial efficiency and incurring substantial budgetary outlays. As a result, Greece faced debt troubles that worsened during the economic crisis of the 2010s. The article further studies how the populist framework introduced by PASOK shaped the transformation of Greece’s political landscape, leading to the collapse of traditional parties, the country’s entrapment in a vicious cycle of financial wastefulness, and the rise of new radical movements such as SYRIZA and ANEL. Those parties came to power amid widespread disillusionment with the existing political order, inherited many of PASOK’s populist strategies, and thus deepened the crisis of Greece’s political system.
About the Author
A. S. Sergeev
Kazan Federal University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Artur S. Sergeev
420097; 35, Kremlyovskaya St.; Kazan
References
1. Clogg, R. (1987), Parties and elections in Greece: the search of legitimacy, Duke University Press, Durham (NC), UK.
2. Kuznetsova, A.V. (2020), “Left-wing radical parties and movements of modern Greece”, General Russian Journal of Social Sciences, no. 5, pp. 167–181.
3. Lyrintzis, C. (1984), “Political parties in post-junta Greece: A case of ‘bureaucratic clientelism’?”, West European Politics, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 99–118.
4. Lyrintzis, C. (1987), “The power of populism: The Greek case”, European Journal of Political Research, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 667–686.
5. Mavrogordatos, G.T. (1997), “From traditional clientelism to machine politics: The impact of PASOK populism in Greece”, South European Society and Politics, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 1–26.
6. Moschonas, G. (1999), “The Panhellenic socialist movement”, in Ladrech, R. and Marliere, P., eds., Social democratic parties in the European Union – history, organization, policies, MacMillan, London, pp. 110–122.
7. Pappas, T. (1999), Making party democracy in Greece, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.
8. Pappas, T. (2014), Populism and crisis politics in Greece, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA.
9. Pappas, T. (2019), Populism and liberal democracy: A comparative and theoretical analysis, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
10. Pappas, T. and Aslanidis, A. (2015), “Greek populism: A political drama in five acts”, in Kriesi, H. and Pappas, T. S., eds., European populism in the shadow of the Great recession, ECPR Press, Colchester, UK, pp. 181–196.
11. Sergeev, A.S. and Dubrovin, V.Yu. (2020), Pasokifikation and the rise of populism in the modern world”, in “Dni nauki” fakul’teta sotsiotekhnicheskikh sistem KNITU : sb. statei i soobshchenii Vserossiiskoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii molodykh uchenykh, aspirantov i studentov (26 aprelya – 8 maya 2019 g.) [“Science Days” of the faculty of sociotechnical systems of KNITU : Proceedings of the All-Russian scientific and practical conference of young scientists, postgraduates and students (April 26 – May 8, 2019)], KNITU, Kazan, Russia, pp. 177–181.
12. Sotiropoulos, D.A. (1996), Populism and bureaucracy: The case of Greece under PASOK, 1981–1989, Univ. of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, USA, London, UK.
13. Sotiropoulos, D.A. (2020), “State-society relations in Greece”, in Featherstone, K. and Sotiropoulos, D.A., eds., The Oxford handbook of modern Greece, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 38–53.
14. Spanou, C. (2020), “Public administration”, in Featherstone, K. and Sotiropoulos, D.A., eds., The Oxford handbook of modern Greece, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 171–186.
15. Spourdalakis, M. (1985), “The Greek experience”, Socialist Register, vol. 22, pp. 249–267.
16. Stavrakakis, Ya. (2005), “Religion and populism in contemporary Greece”, in Panizza, F., ed., Populism and the mirror of democracy, Verso, London UK, New York, USA, pp. 224–249.
Review
For citations:
Sergeev A.S. Left-wing populism in Greece: The state and bureaucracy under populist rule. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin Series "Political Science. History. International Relations". 2025;(3):73-85. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2073-6339-2025-3-73-85
Views:
33
Email this article 