'Compensatory Legitimation' in Greek Educational Policy: An explanation for the abortive educational reforms in Greece in comparison with those in France

Abstract

This article examines the political dynamics of planning and implementing educational reforms in Greece and makes comparisons with those in France. It argues that, as in the case of France, the notion of the state's concern for 'compensatory legitimation' of its authority provides a more adequate theoretical tool for explaining the long series of abortive educational reforms in Greece than the ones employed so far by Greek sociologists and historians of education. Furthermore, by comparing the strategies for compensatory legitimation employed in the two countries, the article reaches the conclusion that in Greece, whilst the invocation of legal and constitutional norms is very old and common, the use of expertise and the invocation of a discourse of participation are very recent and limited compared with France.