ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns developments after the fall of the Colonel's regime, when former Premier Constantine Karamanlis was invited to take over the reins of power. The legalization of political parties most noticeably involved the Communist Party, which had been banned since 1947. The relevance of these social structures to the behaviour of the political parties will be discussed later. In the Greek context, weak social structures have contributed to a lack of authority independent of the state parties have been both autocratic and interventionist. Such practices have implications for both horizontal and vertical pluralism in the relations between parties and society, and hence for the nature of democratic consolidation in Greece. An effective and autonomous trade union movement in Greece still remained to be established; political direction came from above' from government and parties. Thus it may be said that both parties contributed in the crucial respect to democratic consolidation during their respective periods in office.
