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The Emperor Has No Clothes! Power and Resources within the Greek Core Executive
Author(s) -
Featherstone Kevin,
Papadimitriou Dimitris
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.46
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1468-0491
pISSN - 0952-1895
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2012.01610.x
Subject(s) - parallels , emperor , context (archaeology) , fallacy , clothing , core (optical fiber) , executive power , government (linguistics) , power (physics) , political science , political economy , sociology , law , law and economics , economics , politics , history , epistemology , operations management , ancient history , philosophy , materials science , linguistics , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , composite material
International attention has focused recently on the reform “failures” of Greece in the context of its European Union membership. Systemic constraints are increasingly recognized. The present article argues that attention ought also to be given to the inner workings of government at the center and their undermining of reform capacity. It explores the nature of the Greek core executive across five premierships and argues the supposed supremacy of the prime minister is something of a fallacy. In reality, the structure is one of a “solitary centre” amid a “segmented government.” As such, the closest parallels are with Central, rather than Southern, Europe. In developing its empirical analysis, the article makes a methodological contribution to the examination of core executive relations and resources.