Third pro-government protest in Athens, February 2015. Demotix/Michael Debets. All rights reserved.Deep into the crisis years, in 2011, I spoke briefly to a well-known Greek academic and public intellectual who, to my surprise, was supportive of the Memorandum imposed by the Troika and the relevant austerity measures. I put to him the suggestion that perhaps his support, indicative of a large segment of the Greek intelligentsia, was premised on the expectation that through this painful process Greece might change to simulate a Weberian, German-like public administration. This would operate on a rational-legal basis as opposed to a political system embracing patronage and a clientelist culture. I recall mentioning the expression “possible collateral benefits” of the Memorandum; he seemed to agree, reiterating this same phrase.
In a recent openDemocracy article, written as a letter addressed to a newly elected SYRIZA MP of the isle of Samos, it is argued that the Greek people and the new government should work together if structural deformities of the Greek political life and the public administration are to be tackled. Such structural issues include bribing, incompetence of public servants, ineffective mechanisms, waste and misuse of resources, lack of accountability and transparency and the overarching premise of corruption at all levels.
All these are immediately recognisable to anyone who has lived in the country or has dealt with its state mechanisms. Significantly, for the first time in Greek postwar history, a government has pledged to address the chronic problems of intertwined interests, lack of transparency and democratic deficit. Its first months of governance have showed signs of mobilisation to start working in these directions. The content of their proposals to Brussels emphasise the necessity of real reform, while they have repeatedly expressed their intention to introduce an overall new ethos in Greek political life: deepening democracy, promoting transparency, and meritocracy.
