Why Reforms Failed?

Abstract

What explains the failure of reforms in Greece’s populist democracy? Through a, necessarily concise, examination of attempts to improve such crucial policy areas as health, pensions, and education, it is shown that reforms failed because the majority of Greek society typically stood against them. Such a strong resistance to reform is further explained by society’s high aversion to losing benefits already received (or expected) through patronage exchanges. The logic of reform resistance is sufficiently illustrated by the foundering attempts to improve Greece’s tax system.