Greece: From Coalitions as a ‘State of Exception’ to the New Normal?

2021 ◽  
pp. 284-323
Author(s):  
Myrto Tsakatika
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
National Crisis ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Coalition government has been exceptional in Greece since the consolidation of democracy in 1974 but in the aftermath of the global financial crisis its occurrence has become more frequent. Most Greek government coalitions are surplus connected coalitions assembled to address an economic or national crisis and do not involve formal coalition agreements. Their formation takes place after a brief bargaining phase strictly circumscribed by precise constitutional rules under the aegis of the president of the republic. Greek coalitions are governed primarily by ad hoc fora of party leaders that make key decisions and resolve inter-coalitional conflict. The prime minister and key ministers dominate policy arguments, albeit taking into account the wishes of party leaders. The termination of coalitions is by and large due to party leaders’ strategic considerations, though the importance of policy disagreement among the partners is becoming a more significant consideration. While the post-crisis overhaul of the Greek party system has not greatly affected the main characteristics of the coalition life cycle, there is evidence that greater experience with coalition government may be leading to some tentative institutionalization of power-sharing practices and greater acceptance of such practices among political elites.

Das tschechische Parlament in der Pandemie: Zum Krisenmanagement einer Minderheitsregierung

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 860-877
Author(s):  
David Jágr
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Approach ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

The pandemic crisis occurred while illiberal populist leaders governed in Central and East­ern Europe . The Czech Republic was faced with a simultaneous crisis of political parties and the transformation of its party system . The onset of these trends was triggered by the global financial crisis during which the established parties were weakened and the way to parliaments and governments was opened for populists parties . The fight against the pandemic brought changes to the functioning of parliaments and the need for parliamentary adaptations . The Czech case is the least likely of government dominance in a pandemic . Due to the weakness of the minority cabinet and the unprecedented fragmented Chamber of Deputies, the cabinet had to opt for temporary ad hoc alliances with different parties . Over the course of the pandemic, the political actors changed their political approach from cooperation to conflict, leading to government instability and the failure to effectively con­trol the spread of the pandemic, with the Czech Republic becoming one of the worst affect­ed countries in the world .

Social work mobility in Europe: a case study from Ireland

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trish Walsh ◽  
George Wilson ◽  
Erna O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Worker Mobility ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Uk ◽  
National Governments

Social work has been viewed as one of the most nation-specific of the professions, ‘being closely tied up with national traditions, mentalities and institutions’ (Kornbeck, 2004, p 146). In addition, the political imperatives of national governments, austerity measures and managerialism drive approaches to service delivery which may supersede social work’s professional priorities. This militates against an automatic or easy transfer of professional knowledge from one country to another. In spite of this, there has been an enduring interest in developing international forms of social work that transcend national borders (Gray and Fook, 2004; Lyons et al, 2012). In this chapter, we present a case study of social worker mobility as it has evolved from the establishment of the first national social work registration body in the Republic of Ireland in 1997 with a particular focus on data from 2004-13 capturing the years leading up to, and in the aftermath of, the global financial crisis of 2008. We contrast this with the situation in Northern Ireland (NI), part of the UK and a separate and distinct political and legal entity with its own policies and practices. We draw on statistical and descriptive data provided by Irish social work registration bodies (NSWQB 1997-2011; CORU established in 2011 and NISCC, the Northern Ireland Social Care Council established in 2001) to illustrate (i) how sensitive contemporary mobility patterns are to changing economic and political factors; (ii) how rapidly patterns of mobility change and (iii) how much more mired in complexity European social work mobility is likely to be if the European project itself fractures, as is possible following the Brexit referendum vote in the UK.

Greek Crisis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella Ladi ◽  
Vivian Spyropoulou
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Party System ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Economic Adjustment ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Greek Crisis ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

The Greek crisis started in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis of 2008, and it officially ended in August 2018 when Greece exited the Third Economic Adjustment Programme that it had signed with its international lenders to avoid default. Greece had to seek help from international lenders, including the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and, in the last program, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), three times (2010, 2012, and 2015). The crisis soon spread to other European Monetary Union (EMU) countries—namely Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Cyprus—and it was transformed into a Eurozone crisis, with some commonalities but with different characteristics in each case. The Greek crisis was a sovereign debt crisis that resulted from a continuous aggravation of the national economic indicators, such as growth, inflation, and unemployment, serious long term structural shortcomings, and the pressure from the global financial crisis. The economic crisis was soon translated into a political crisis that shook the Greek party system and strengthened more radical parties such as the left-wing Syriza and the neo-fascist Golden Dawn. Strong one-party governments became a memory of the past and were replaced by short-lived coalition governments. The economic pressure also led to a serious social crisis with rising poverty levels, unprecedented numbers of homeless, and a welfare system unable to cope with the increasing demands. It posed questions about the shape of Greece’s political and social institutions, its legal system and Constitution, and its public administration’s capability to cope with the crisis and implement the conditionality attached to the three economic adjustment programs. Last but not least, the Greek crisis brought into fore the weaknesses and discrepancies of the EMU and was the motive behind important structural reforms, such as the creation of new financial assistance and surveillance mechanisms, including the ESM, as well as the strengthening of informal institutions such as the Euro summits. The discussion was soon extended to a questioning of the viability of the European Union (EU) project, the role of Germany, and the changing Europeanization mechanisms. The bibliography about the Greek crisis developed quickly and covers economic, political, social, and legal issues concerning not only Greece, but also the EU as a whole, taking the case of Greece as a starting point.

scholarly journals A tale in stone and bronze: old/new strategies for political mobilization in the Republic of Macedonia

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Stefoska ◽  
Darko Stojanov
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
New Strategies ◽  
The Eu

The redesign of Skopje's main square and the wider central area in the last six years has been a top priority of the Macedonian government. The project, called Skopje 2014, provoked intense domestic debate and controversy as well as international reaction and concern. Although officials say that project's aim is to unify ethnic Macedonians, it has produced several lines of political, intra-ethnic/interethnic as well as intra-cultural/intercultural divisions in the fragile Macedonian society. The aim of the paper is to offer reflections about its mobilizing potential among ethnic Macedonians in a set of social, economic, and political contexts. In that sense, four areas of mobilization are suggested: (1) around new identity markers; (2) around the name dispute and against threats (real or imagined) to the ethnic and national identity; (3) against the internal Other, that is, the ethnic Albanian community, as well as critics of these identity politics; and (4) in reaction to the global financial crisis and problems within the EU.

scholarly journals IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF CURRENCY CRISES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

TEME ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 299
Author(s):  
Milan Marković ◽  
Ivana Marjanović
Keyword(s):  
Currency Crises ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Exchange Rate Regime ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Misery Index ◽  
Floating Exchange Rate ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Market Pressure

The aim of the paper is to identify the episodes of currency crises in the Republic of Serbia using the exchange market pressure (EMP) index. The country's resilience to currency crises prevents the collapse of the currency and the transfer of negative effects to the entire financial and real sector, so the research and assessment of the factors of currency crises is extremely important. The survey shows that the strongest strikes on the Serbian dinar were in the period of the global financial crisis in 2008, so that adjusting to shocks from abroad is crucial for the sustainability of the applied managed floating exchange rate regime. On the other hand, the stability of the national currency depends mainly on the achieved macroeconomic results, which are presented globally using the misery index.

scholarly journals Monetary Policy after the Great Moderation

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
Guillermo Peña
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Economic ◽  
Great Moderation ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Causality Tests ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Discretionary Monetary Policy

AbstractThe interferences among some financial, economic and monetary variables are checked as an indicator of economic performance in the long run and for the monetary policy applied between the Great Moderation (GM) of 1987-2001 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2009. For achieving this target, some Granger causality tests are applied to GDP growth, credit growth, and lending interest of 36 countries of the EU and the OECD for the full sample of 1987-2012 and the sub-sample of 2002-2007. Results corroborate the interferences among these variables for the discretionary monetary policy applied immediately after the GM, within the “Ad Hoc Era” or “lax period”, and independence when monetary policy was correctly applied and rules-based.

scholarly journals Gold Reserve Policies of Selected Central Banks After the Global Financial Crisis: A Comparative Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zehra Vildan Serin ◽  
Erişah Arıcan ◽  
Başak Tanınmış Yücememiş
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Gold Reserve ◽  
Bank Reserves ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Republic Of Turkey

After the global financial crisis, central banks have changed attitudes towards gold and have unconventional policy measures, in addition to conventional interest rate cuts. With these measures central banks aimed to support financial stability, and to reduce to potential adverse effects from international capital flows. From the perspective of investors and central banks gold positions and gold reserves are still significant and debatable issues. The purpose of this study is to investigate the composition of central bank reserves the period of 2008 and 2018. In this paper, generally we compared gold reserve holdings of major central banks with Turkey. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has increased gold reserves especially since 2002. With implementing effective policies, CBRT has increased gold holdings in international reserves. CBRT is one of the countries with the highest share of gold reserves in the world.

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