The Politics of Extreme Austerity: Greece Beyond the Crisis

 1: Prof. Antigone Lyberaki (Panteion) and Dr. Platon Tinios (Piraeus), “Informal social protection and
family indebtedness: some hidden economic crisis dynamics”

2: Dr. M. Matsaganis (AUEB) and Chrysa Leventi (AUEB), “Poverty and inequality during the Great
Recession: the case of Greece”

3: Dr Sotiria Theodoropoulou and Dr Andrew Watt (European Trade Union Institute), “The Greek tragedy:
the abject failure of national austerity in the context of an unfinished monetary union”

 4: Eoin Drea (Cork), “Repeating the Mistakes of Austerity? Lessons for Greece from the Irish Economic Experience of the 1920s and 1930s”

Context

During 2010, Greece suddenly found itself at the centre of European and world attention as the country was rocked by the worst economic crisis of its modern history. In response, the government was forced to make substantial cuts in Greece’s budget and introduce unprecedented austerity measures in order to meet the demands of fellow EU countries that had reluctantly agreed a rescue package. With many challenges still lying ahead and the debt crisis still unfolding, uncertainties persist and key questions remain unanswered.
How can Greece best manage the crisis and succeed in rebuilding growth, jobs and living standards?
To what extent are the austerity measures politically, economically and socially viable?
What will the political and public response be?
What led to the crisis and what lessons and recommendations can be drawn from it?
What has been the impact of the Greek crisis on the EU itself?

To address these and related questions, the Greek Politics Specialist Group (GPSG) of the Political Studies Association (PSA) and the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde hosted a two-day conference, which was held in Glasgow on 8-9 December 2011.

Aim

The conference digested questions about the origins, implications and management of the Greek crisis and generated new theoretical knowledge about the politics of extreme austerity, which also affect other European countries facing similar economic challenges. In doing so, it reached across disciplinary barriers by bringing together experts from across the spectrum of social sciences, including (but not limited to) politics, economics, history, law, sociology and psychology.

Funding Support and Follow-Up

Monetary prizes will be awarded to outstanding papers so as to partially cover travel expenses. A selection of papers will be considered for publication in an edited book and/or journal special issue. All papers presented at the conference are eligible for publication in the GPSG Working Paper Series.

For more details please visit the conference website www.AusterityPolitics.com or contact the conference convenor, Dr Georgios Karyotis, at [email protected]

Organising Committee

The members of the conference’s organising committee are the following:

Dr Georgios Karyotis is a Lecturer in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde. He teaches and researches in the broad areas of international relations, international security and crisis management. Key areas of interest: international security theory; migration; terrorism; economic crisis; securitisation; protest behaviour, Greek society and politics. E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Roman Gerodimos is a Senior Lecturer in Global Current Affairs in the Media School at Bournemouth University. His background is in political science and international studies. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a faculty member at the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change. E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Stella Ladi is a lecturer of Europeanization and Public Policy at Panteion University, Greece. She is affiliated with the Department of Politics, University of Sheffield as an Honorary Research Fellow. Her research interests include processes of policy transfer, global governance, comparative public policy, the relationship between Europeanization and globalization and their impact upon domestic public policy, the role of NGOs and experts in the policy process. E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Dimitris Tsarouhas is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Bilkent University, Turkey. His research interests include progressive politics, welfare politics, Europeanization and European integration, Greek political economy and EU-Turkey relations. E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Andrew Liaropoulos is a Lecturer at the University of Piraeus, Department of International and European Studies. His research interests are: international security, strategy, intelligence, military transformation and foreign policy analysis. E-mail: [email protected]