ABSTRACT
The modern history of Greece has been characterized by inordinate dependence on Great Britain from its Independence in 1832 to 1945. When George Papandreou was elected, the world economy was growing, but Greece was facing high defense costs, owing to the tensions with Turkey over Cyprus. Though by the mid-1950s the patron-client integration model was a resounding success from the US perspective, the government in Athens classified 34 percent of the population as indigent, earning less than $8 per month. The official transition from the patron-client model to the inter-dependent took place on 28 May 1979 when Greece signed the Treaty of Accession, paving the way for its full membership in January 1981. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Washington put enormous pressure on Greece to adopt orthodox monetary and fiscal measures, coupled with deregulation and privatization, just as they did on the rest of the world.
