Byzantine mood swings over the Greek debt crisis: Between Global Finance and a Monk’s Business

Notes internacionals CIDOB, núm. 21

As the eurozone’s weakest economy struggles to bring sovereign debt under control, can Greece’s new government turn the economy around, and is the country able to accept the pain of transformation into a modern state?

At the heart of the Greek debt crisis are outmoded attitudes towards the state as a duty bearer, and the role of citizens as rights holders that do not sit well with the needs of a modern state functioning in a globally-linked economic and financial system.

The stakes are too high for failure, but do Greeks really have sufficient appetite for real change? Can rampant Greek individualism ever be harnessed to come together to think as a collective entity? Will Europe be patient enough to wait and see if Greece is capable of complying with its deep structural reform commitments, or would it increase the pressure and eventually push the country out of the euro?