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between the two was much greater. Parties of the left and the extreme right with completely incompatible agendas belonged to the ‘anti-Memorandum’ faction. Its political strength was therefore much more limited than the number of votes might suggest. 12 The ‘immediate political priorities’ were ‘the revision of the terms of the loan agreement, growth, reconstruction and social protection, immediate economic priorities, changes in the political system and the state, safety for citizens, illegal immigration and, finally, foreign policy’. Ethnos, 2 June 2012, pp. 18
unemployment to be supported by funds from the European Social Fund. PASOK had also included in its election campaign promises relating to the construction of a stable taxation system based on 10-year cycles and no further cuts in either incomes or pensions. New Democracy announced that its modest goal was ‘to change everything … the growth model and the system of government’.8 In terms of foreign policy, its priority was to establish a Greek Exclusive Economic Zone. In order to reduce the deficit it promised ‘to cut public squandering of funds’. It believed it would be
shifted decisively to the US, which from then on provided the main model for the organisation of economics education and expertise for Western countries during the Cold War. The US led the design of the post-war international economic system and its foreign policy was targeted at the containment of Communism and opening new markets. 37 International institutions and American
administration,31 the health-care system, the education system and the judicial system. The Troika is still involved in almost every significant matter in Greece, with the exception of foreign policy and defence. For Greeks it is a power centre, equivalent to the Greek government and in some matters outranking it. Unlike an adviser, it does not express opinions; rather, it decides what must happen, when and how. It urges the Greek government to follow its recommendations and conducts systematic checks on whether they have been implemented. Indeed, it threatens to cut off
‘balanced economic growth’, ‘a competitive social market economy’, ‘social justice’ – while the loftier aims of ‘solidarity between member states’ 3 were relegated to rhetoric. European integration aimed at ‘growth’, a ‘social’ Europe beyond the common market, the single currency and a vague notion of a common foreign policy. The political and economic conditions prevailing after 2004 expedited this trend, turning attention exclusively to the problems of the single market, and the single currency. Policies for growth and initiatives to reduce the imbalances between member
community. Reflect on Plato’s discussion in The Republic (1961), or Hegel’s discussion, where the good state is defined in terms of justice and morality and the quality of persons (1967). Under this conception of the relationships between a collection of individuals and families and their state, the good of the whole is by no means adequately judged in terms of the sum of the ‘happiness’ of the individuals that comprise it. This notion is very much alive in discussions about matters like the quality of justice in a society, or the aims of foreign policy. Arguments about