The Evolution of Local Administration In Greece

Abstract

Greece appears to have a long tradition in ‘borrowing’ policies, laws, institutions and practices in the public and private sector from other countries. This is, though, a phenomenon, which the majority of Greeks never admit to be happening. Proud for ‘having taught democracy’ to the rest of Europe, they perceive it as a downgrading of their tradition as ‘the cradle of civilization’, to be imitating others in the ways of managing public and private affairs. History, though, and even today’s reality prove otherwise. In fact, right after Greece became an independent country in 1828, the major European powers — England, France and Russia — began competing for control and influence in the new state. Characteristic of the above is that the first political parties were named Anglophiles, Francophiles and Russophiles (Lalenis, 2001, p. 13). Later on, with the arrival of the first king, Otto in Greece, the Bavarians also achieved a high degree of influence. The sectors in which institutional transplantations were usually observed were public administration (local much more than central), the legal system, and spatial planning.