Greek Government, Research Paper Example

The history records the events that built the freedom of Greece. For as long as the literature and taste of the historical Greeks persist to nurture scholars and also inspire artistes, Greece must be an object of interest to civilized minds. Neither is the political history of the modern Greeks unworthy of attention. The importance of the Greek race to the progress of European civilization is not to be calculated by its numerical power, however with its social and religious impact in the East. Yet even geographically, the Greeks take so wide an extent of sea-coast, and the countries in which they contemplate are so thinly peopled, that they have sufficient room to multiply and form a populated nation. “At the present their impact extends far beyond the regions utilized by their race; for Greek priests and Greek teachers have transmitted their language and their ideas into the greater part of the educated classes among the Christian population of European Turkey” (Dougherty, et. al, 2003).

The Greek Revolution came back at last. It served a Christian nation from conquest to Mohammedanism, formed a new state in Europe, and expanded the advantages of civil liberty to areas where dictatorship had for ages been ancient. In order to unfold its purposes, it is important to explain the situation of the Greek people and of the Othman government during the early part of this century.

The strength of the Greek race set in the ancient seats of Greek liberty. In the Peloponnesus, in continental Greece, and in the Greek Islands, they not only formed most of the population, but they still managed some municipal control, and essential part of the landed property under farming.

Political System

Greece is the nation in this sample with the weakest advisory and incorporative policy making custom. The following conversation records this initially to a sample of state development in which a modern nation state was imposed through foreign interference with little natural relationship between the new state and pre up-to-date community (Gruen, 1996). The wide state society space that characterized Greek Politics for much of the country’s history did not change much during the twentieth century, in which an moralist “hard” form of democracy changed with authoritarian rule. Greece theoretically fully democratized from 1974, but the way in which it did so did not involve any serious change to the way in which policy was made.

“Greek political thought prior to Plato constitutes everything the Greeks considered important to the functioning of the city-state, or polis: political theory, sociology, anthropology, ethics, rhetoric, and more” (Nicholls, 2007). These problems come together in the last half of the fifth century in the teaching of the sophists, whole occupation it was to organize young adults for involvement in public life. Long before the sophists, however, such problems were main to the poetry that served as the cultural memory of the Greeks.

The political history of Greece prior to the fifth century has to be regained from later resources reinforced by proof from poetry and archeology. The seventh and sixth centuries are also the time when laws focus on to be written down in cities all over Greece. Often the laws of a city are linked to a particular lawmaker; Lycurgus in Sparta and Solon in Athens are the highest of these. We are told that Lycurgus received his laws from an oracle in Delphi and that solon rewrote almost the whole set of laws written by his overly harsh predecessor, Draco. The laws and political organizations of this period reflected the interests of those who served in the army a middle class of farmers, artisans, and merchants. Calls for political reform now had to be taken more seriously, and agreement between the classes was more likely to succeed than total victory for one side or the other.

Greece shows a kind of political system that emerged from colonial status or foreign subjugation in the 19th century but lagged behind Western Europe and the United States in economic development, capability to handle with social change, and all development of strong representative organizations. Normally, political cultures develop very slowly. Regardless whenever fast changes do happen they do not come out of thin air; there is always an interplay between the consistent and the unstable traits.

Social, Culture and Politics

The mostly peaceful transition to aristocratic designs of governance in the early Archaic period introduced no revolutionary concepts to the Greek higher circles, for the same spirit of dignity and distinction – the “heroic attribute” as explained in the oral tradition of epic verse – had animated kings and nobles alike. The Greek social reaction to the powers and uses of the written word thus comprises the first “democratization of literacy” in history, and a great spur to Hellenic rationalism.

The essential sound changes in Greek Governmental life appeared after the 1974 season; the abolition of the monarchy, the end of the politically exclusionary state of emergency that followed the civil war, the debasement of veto groups such as the military and the para constitutional cycles, the refurbishment of political personnel, the establishment of an open efficient political system, the pluralistic reorganization of the party system, and all improvement of political communication are some of these changes – innovations largely determined by the dynamics and the conjunction of transition to the republic.

To begin with two somewhat contradictory assumptions. First, at one level, we take “culture” as a theoretical category, “ a way of both understanding and organizing human life” (Quintini, 2010). Our notion of Greek culture along these lines, then, is a system of shared beliefs and practices by means of which Greeks structured, regulated, and comprehended their collective lives. This notion of culture as a theoretical category, its capacity for organizing and making sense of human experience, is, of course, particularly important for those of us engaged in the study of the past; it helps provide the analytic framework by which we, as scholars of antiquity, attempt to understand and explain the significance of individual artifacts or practices of that world. The assumption of “Greek culture” is what enables us to unify and connect the often arbitrarily preserved and idiosyncratic artifacts which are our only data – texts, papyri, pots, sculpture, and architectural remains. Etc. Greek culture, like all others, was comprised of many disparate subgroups or subcultures, whose identity and existence were constantly shifting and realigning, whose rituals beliefs, and practices alternately competed and collaborated.

Future Predictions

“The recent initiatives go in the right direction. Strengthening support available to unemployed youth is essential in view of the likely repercussions of the unfolding recession on youth labor market performance. However, the emphasis must be put on well structured, comprehensive measures of proven effectiveness. Over the coming year, school leaves will face very difficult labor market entry conditions”( Blunt, 1830 ).As an outcome, even more youth, specifically among the minimum skilled, are likely to accumulate into long term unemployment or extended inactiveness and, in the absence of effective protective strategies; various will definitely become unconnected from the labor market. Reducing this long term “scaring” effect must be a significant government objective. In addition, recent reforms to the education system need firmer enforcement and need to lead the way for more radical changes. In order to enhance the effectiveness of its stimulation method for disadvantage youth, the Greek government could look at some examples of good practice from other countries.

References

Blunt, J., (1830), American annual register. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=m4VdAAAAIAAJ&dq=Greek%20government&pg=PA200#v=onepage&q=Greek%20government&f=false

Quintini, G., (2010), Greece 2010. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books id=tNtUXfDP950C&lpg=PA11&dq=Recommendations%20for%20Greek%20government&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q=Recommendations%20for%20Greek%20government&f=false

Nicholls, K., (2007), Europeanizing Responses to Labor Market Challenges in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal: the importance of consultative and incorporative policy making. Retrieved fromhttp://books.google.com/books?id=9txAFXgqM0YC&lpg=PA171&dq=current%20regime%20of%20greek&pg=PA185#v=onepage&q=current%20regime%20of%20greek&f=false

Dougherty, C.; Kurke, L., (2003), The cultures within ancient greek culture: contact, conflict, collaboration. Retireved from http://books.google.com/books?id=VrMflp154VYC&lpg=PP1&dq=Greek%20cultural&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=Greek%20cultural&f=false

Gruen, E., (1996), Studies in Greek culture and Roman Policy. Retireved from Google ebooks.