ABSTRACT
The dominant hypothesis in the literature on the Greek civil service is that it has been and continues to be over-politicized, mainly on account of the constant efforts of political elites to use the state mechanism as a source of generating votes rather than as an instrument of policy implementation (Lyrintzis, 1984; Makrydemetris, 1999; Mouzelis, 1986; Sotiropoulos, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2001; Spanou, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2001; Tsekos, 1986; Tsoucalas, 1986). The hypothesis assumes that the Greek political elites are acting in a structural context which lends itself to extreme politicization. This is the context of a polarized party system, in which parties dominated by personalities have fought for power between 1949 and 1967 and again since 1974 (Mouzelis, 1978; Legg, 1969; Clogg, 1987), and of an equally polarized political culture (Diamandouros, 1983; Demertzis, 1990). This culture, is the outcome of the political socialization of several generations of Greeks in successive periods which included a very destructive civil war (1946-1949), a disciplined parliamentary democracy imbued with anti-communism and systematic monitoring of the Left (1949-1967), military dictatorship (1967-1974), and the intense rivalry between the Greek socialist party (PASOK) and the conservative New Democracy party (ND) from 1974 until today. One cannot understand politicization in Greece without grasping the political significance of these two parties, which together represent more than two-thirds of the electorate. PASOK, the socialist/populist party, was founded in 1974 by the charismatic Andreas Papandreou. It managed to win an astonishing 48 percent of the vote in the elections of 1981 and has ruled with an absolute majority ever since – with a short interval in 1990-1993 when it was out of power mainly due to the protracted illness of its leader and the involvement of several of its ministers in financial scandals. ND was founded by Constantine Caramanlis, another charismatic leader who masterminded the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy in 1974. His party enjoyed an absolute majority in the Greek parliament between 1974 and 1981 and again between 1990 and 1993 (under the leadership of Constantine Mitsotakis).
