by Vasilis Giavris, Agora-Dialogue
Cultural determinants are often used to explicate or excuse corruption in Greece. The popular perception is that culture is a significant determinant of corrupt behavior and social norms across countries can explain the variation in corruption level. Proponents of this cultural relativist approach maintain that it is a country’s cultural context that predisposes people’s views and attitudes to corruption since such attitudes and views are socially-embedded. In this regard many maintain that corruption in Greece is a remnant of Ottoman rule and inherent cultural causes.
However, the proposition that a cultural predisposition to corruption exists as a matter of course is a subjective oversimplification. It fails to understand that it is political structures that provide the best determinant of corruption in Greece and as such fails to account for the important correlation between corruption, the state and political parties.
Whilst cultural factors cannot be totally disregarded, the emergence of political corruption in Greece is more dependant on political factors then inherent cultural causes.
Political influence upon the bureaucracy in Greece is a direct manifestation of the late development of the Greek state and the simultaneous institutionalization of the state bureaucracy alongside the emergence of political parties and the political party system. This has resulted in a weak executive and the development of patron-client relationships. Indeed one cannot underestimate the construction of patron-client networks between the major political parties and various local factions, unions and business leaders.
The lack of effective or appropriate checks and balances in Greece has inherently facilitated abuse of power and corruption and has promoted and permitted the arbitrary exercise of power by government and political parties. The lack of checks and balances has not permitted a system based regulation that could have prevented one power branch or political groups from dominating the state apparatus for their own benefit.
Where to from here?
Corruption in Greece has become systemic and systematic but its causes are not social norms or cultural particularities. Policy interventions can modify corruption norms over time but only if corruption is treated as a principal national campaign rather then as opportunistic political rhetoric used to quell grassroots dissent and score political mileage.
