Penelope's suitors: Administrative modernisation and party competition in Greece

Abstract

The contribution undertakes to focus on the process of administrative reform in Greece during the past twenty years. In doing so, the strategies of the two central party organisations in Greek politics, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and New Democracy (ND) are detailed. The core argument consists in elaborating that administrative reform efforts have been intrinsically shaped by and are the results of specific features of competition between the two major political parties. Albeit with differences in approaches and priorities, both PASOK and ND reproduced the two major deficits of administrative reform in Greece: redundant reforms and re‐emergence of clientelistic practices.