Structure, Agents and Discourse in Managing Economic Crises: Comparing Greece and Turkey

Abstract

In the spring of 2010, the Greek government requested international financial assistance. In exchange, it agreed to a programme of fiscal discipline and budgetary consolidation jointly designed and executed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund. Four years on, very few of the reforms originally envisaged in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the three parties (Greek state, EU and IMF) in 2010 have been realised. By contrast the economy has plunged into the deepest recession the country saw in its post-war history and there is little prospect of recovery in the short term.