The Permanent Campaign Strategy of Prime Ministers in Parliamentary Systems: The Case of Greece

Abstract

Various academic authors have analyzed the implementation and the impact of the permanent campaign strategy by political executives in presidential and parliamentary systems, notably the United States and United Kingdom. This article builds on this literature and extends the research on the permanent campaign in the European parliamentary majoritarian context by examining contemporary Greece as a national case study. The research focuses on the cases of three successive Greek prime ministers: the center-left Kostas Simitis (1996–2004), the center-right Kostas Karamanlis (2004–2009), and the left-of-center George Papandreou (2009–2011). In particular, the article addresses two issues: whether these premiers exercised a permanent campaign strategy and what effect the permanent campaign had on their popularity. The conclusion is that all three did adopt a permanent campaign strategy, yet the impact on their public approval was weak, aligning themselves with their British and American counterparts.