From Stagnation to Forced Adjustment: Reforms in Greece, 1974-2010 - Tapa dura

"Aims to provide a comprehensive study of reform attempts in Greece in a wide range of policy areas, with a theoretical underpinning. The list of authors includes some of the best experts on Greece....This book is extremely topical and it will remain so for some time."--Professor Loukas Tsoukalis, Special Adviser to the President of the European Commission and Jean Monnet Professor of European Organisation, University of Athens

"This is an engrossing account and the best research that has yet been published on Greece's reform experience over the past thirty-five years. Closely argued, very readable and stimulating."--Elias Mossialos, Professor of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science and former Minister of State in Greece.

"This is the best volume yet on recent economic policy in Greece. It combines analytic rigor with a command of critical economic, legal, and historical details. Eschewing overly technical analysis, this group of authors recognizes that the causes of Greece's dilemmas and the future trajectory of Greek reform rest above all on domestic politics. Greek politicians, they argue, can act more freely and effectively than many observers realise." -- Foreign Affairs

This book sets out the background to Greece's current political and economic crisis, examining its three decades of stopstart reforms and their political and institutional consequences.

Ever since Greece's 1974 transition to democracy there has been constant talk of reforms. Major changes in its economy, society and polity have attempted to bring Greek institutions and policies in line with more developed West European countries. Some reforms have come to fruition (creation of the NHS, Eurozone entry, banking liberalization, some privatizations), others have recurred over the years (educational reform), while others have been spasmodic and elusive (pension and civil service reforms). The Greek malaise, widely felt and discussed in the country, has intensified the need for yet further reforms, yet attempts to introduce them has also fuelled systematic resistance from organised interest groups, which has led to a broadly perceived sense of inertia and stagnation, or at least truncated progress. This book sets out the background to Greece's current political and economic crisis, examining its three decades of stopstart reforms and their political and institutional consequences.