Modern Greece

Just a few years ago, Greece appeared to be a politically secure nation
with a healthy economy. Today, Greece can be found at the center of the
economic maelstrom in Europe. Beginning in late 2008, the Greek economy
entered a nosedive that would transform it into the European country
with the most serious and intractable fiscal problems. Both the deficit
and the unemployment rate skyrocketed. Quickly thereafter, Greece edged
toward a pre-revolutionary condition, as massive anti-austerity protests
punctuated by violence and vandalism spread throughout Greek cities.
Greece was certainly not the only country hit hard by
the recession, but nevertheless the entire world turned its focus toward
it for a simple reason: the possibility of a Greek exit from the
European Monetary Union, and its potential to unravel the entire Union,
with other weaker members heading for the exits as well. The fate of
Greece is inextricably tied up with the global politics surrounding
austerity as well. Is austerity rough but necessary medicine, or is it
an intellectually bankrupt approach to fiscal policy that causes ruin?
Through it all, Greece has staggered from crisis to crisis, and the
European central bank's periodic attempts to prop up its economy fall
short in the face of popular recalcitrance and negative economic growth.
Though the catalysts for Greece's current economic crises can
be found in
the conditions and events of the past few years, one can only understand
the factors that helped to transform these crises into a terrible
political and social catastrophe by tracing Greece's development as an
independent country over the past two centuries. In Greece: What
Everyone Needs to Know, Stathis Kalyvas, an eminent scholar of conflict,
Europe, and Greece, begins by elucidating the crisis's impact on
contemporary Greek society. He then shifts his focus to modern Greek
history, tracing the nation's development from the early nineteenth
century to the present. Key episodes include the independence movement
of the early nineteenth century, the aftermath of World War I (in which
Turkey and Greece engaged in a massive mutual ethnic cleansing), the
German occupation of World War II, the
brutal civil war that followed, the postwar conflict with Turkey over
Cyprus, the military coup of 1967, and-finally-democracy and entry into
the European Union. The final part of the book will cover the recent
crisis in detail. Written by one of the most brilliant political
scientists in the academy, Greece is the go-to resource for
understanding both the present turmoil and the deeper past that has
brought the country to where it is now.Readership: Students and general interest readers