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The Sovereign Debt Crisis in Southern Europe: Majoritarian Pitfalls?

Kovras, Iosif, Loizides, Neophytos G. (2014) The Sovereign Debt Crisis in Southern Europe: Majoritarian Pitfalls? Comparative Politics, 47 (1). pp. 1-20. ISSN 0010-4159. (KAR id:37039)

Abstract

Although widely debated in broader socioeconomic terms, the Eurozone crisis has not received yet adequate scholarly attention with regard to the impact of alternative political systems. This article revisits the debate on majoritarian and consensus democracies drawing on recent evidence from the Eurozone debacle. Greece is particularly interesting both with regard to its potential ‘global spillover effects’ and choice of a majoritarian political system. Despite facing comparable challenges as Portugal and Spain, the country has become polarized socially and politically, seeing a record number of MP defections, electoral volatility and the rise of the militant extreme right. The article points to the role of majoritarian institutions to explain why Greece entered the global financial crisis in the most vulnerable position while subsequently faced insurmountable political and institutional obstacles in its management.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
J Political Science > JN Political institutions and public administration (Europe)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Depositing User: Neophytos Loizides
Date Deposited: 02 Dec 2013 04:29 UTC
Last Modified: 10 Dec 2022 21:43 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/37039 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Loizides, Neophytos G..

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0327-4643
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