Interest Group Politics
This chapter examines the unfolding of interest representation and intermediation, from 1974 to 2018 by focusing mostly on the organization of wage labour, farmers, and the liberal professions and their respective ties to the political system. State–society relations in Greece have undergone a number of transformations since the transition to democracy in 1974, but until 2010 these were mostly of a path-dependent nature. Legacies of authoritarianism and clientelism contributed to the formation of close ties between organized interests and political actors, and the model of interest representation and intermediation that emerged after 1974 did not fit with either the pluralist nor the neo-corporatist models that prevailed in other Western European states in the 1970s and 1980s. The particularistic ties formed between interest groups and political parties was seen as part of the problem that led Greece to the verge of default in 2010, which in turn contributed to a dismantling of the existing model. Given that policies during the 2010–18 period were for the most part dictated by the bailout agreements, the role of interest groups inevitably subsided, but a clear alternative to the previous model has not yet emerged.