How Greek National History Has Shaped Welfare and Education Politics in Greece Under the Economic Crisis

Since the end of WW II the politics of pensions and social assistance in Greece have been characterized by patterns of fragmented and uneven social protection. During the recent crisis the necessary rationalization of pensions and social assistance systems has given way to retrenchment driven by policies of fiscal consolidation. In parallel, in education there have been legacies of resistance to authority and highly-politicized clashes in universities even after transition to democracy. In 2010-2016, under successive coalition governments of the Right and the Left, the politics of pensions and social assistance were shaped by externally-imposed austerity policies. Such policies damaged more the outsiders than the insiders of the welfare system, as the former lacked organization and representation. By contrast, the politics of education mostly reflected a recurrent tension between converging with the rest of EU university systems and retaining a highly politicized manner of decision-making, while trends in education and labor markets diverged sharply, further complicating the problem of unemployment.