Agency in Athens: The Greek Colonels’ Strategy Toward the US

Abstract

All too often, perceptions of US foreign policy—particularly with respect to Greece—frame the relationship between the United States and other countries as largely a one-way street—with US power and influence dynamically acting on other countries that are implicitly portrayed as static, powerless, and passive. In contrast, this chapter seeks to place the active, strategic agency of the – regime at the heart of our analysis. What we argue is that, far from being passive “objects” of US influence and policy, the colonels’ regime was in fact extremely active in strategically shaping and manipulating its relationship with the United States. In a complex mix that involved appeals to historic ties of friendship, inducements of even closer security cooperation, complaints about unfair and un-collegial US treatment, and barely veiled threats to “look elsewhere” for support, the regime’s leaders were active, strategic agents in shaping their relationship with the United States. As this chapter will show, in the end, their efforts met with remarkable success, as US policy makers came to display a keen sensitivity to Greek sensibilities, wishing to avoid any open rupture with the regime, particularly in the face of US strategic and military interests.