Keeping it in the Family: Families and Dynasties in Greek Politics

Article & Research by Stephen Woodward. Edited by Tom Hercock.

Earlier this month George Papandreou shocked the rest of Europe by announcing he would hold a referendum in Greece to decide if Greece would comply with the latest round of austerity measures required by the Eurozone in order for a bailout of Greece to proceed. Many commentators were seemingly shocked at the action, which caused confidence to plummet on stock markets globally as action to solve the continental debt crisis was postponed pending a Greek decision that may not take place till January. But Papandreou’s action was perhaps not just merely a decision to give the Greek people the final say. I for one think the announcement was also partly to bolster Papandreou’s profile, to make him stand out against his more renowned relatives. Greek politics is often confounding to outsiders who seemingly can’t understand why the Greek parliament is in great disorder. However this is nothing new, Greek politics has been disorderly for centuries, as this article aims to show. Dominated by families and loose coalitions unity is a hard thing to come by in Greek politics, which is partly why it is so wrought with delays and abstract behaviour. 

George Papandreou is from one of a number of familial dynasties who have dominated Greek politics since the early 1800s. Both George’s grandfather and his father were also Prime Ministers of Greece. His grandfather Georgios Papandreou Sr. served as Prime Minister of Greece three times, in 1944-45, 1963, then again in 1964-65, holding a seat in parliament as early as the First World War and for a large majority of his political career also acting as a Minister. Georgios was held in high regard by the people of Greece as a beacon of democracy, as part of Greece’s government in exile during the Second World, then as a fierce opponent of the right. With the onset of a military dictatorship in Greece 1967, Georgios was interned under house arrest, where he eventually died. His funeral was used as a demonstration against the dictatorship, whilst posthumously he was often referred to as ‘ο Γέρος της δημοκρατίας’ ‘the old man of democracy’. 

Georgios’ son and George’s father Andreas is an equally famous figure in modern Greek history. He served two terms as Prime Minister, firstly for eight years between 1981 and 1989 and then again between 1993 and 1996. His original eight year term marked a turning point in Greek political history, being the first strong left wing government in a country that had been dominated by the right for over fifty years. Andreas has numerous successes, ranging from the creation of the Greek National Health System and enormous increases in worker’s rights. A poll by the newspaper Kathimerini in 2007 voted him ‘the most important Greek Prime Minister in history.’

The Papandreous are not the only such dynasty in Greek politics; there are many other families whose names echo through the years. The Karamanlis family has provided two Greek PMs; firstly Konstantinos who was Prime Minster four times between 1955 and 1980 as well as being President of Greece between 1980-1985 and again 1990-1995, then his nephew Konstantinos who served two consecutive terms as PM between 2004 and 2009. Meanwhile the first Konstantinos’ brother (the second’s uncle) Achileas had numerous stints as an MP and minister. 

The Venizelos family has also provided two PMs. Eleftherios Venizelos, an incredibly renowned figure in Greek history, was Prime Minister seven times between 1910 and 1933. He not only oversaw the union of Crete with Greece but was also PM during the First World War and represented Greece at the Treaty of Versailles, gaining vital territory for the Greek state. His son Sophoklis also graced the position of Greek PM three times, once in exile during the Second World War. The name Venizelos lives on in Greek politics under the guise of current and much maligned finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, although in a break from the trend of Greek politics he is not related to the two Venizelos’ who have risen to be PM. 

Rallis is another family name that has permeated throughout the twentieth century in Greek politics. The first, Dimitrios Rallis, was PM five times between 1897 and 1921. His son Ioannis had the dishonour of being a Prime Minister of the Greek collaborationist government during the Second World War, eventually sentenced for treason, he died in jail in 1946. The third member of the Rallis family to be elected Prime Minister of Greece was Georgios who presided from 1980-1981. 

Even during the early days of the Greek state families played an important role. One of the first heads of the Greek state was Ioannis Kapodistrias who governed Greece from 1827-1831 during its inaugural days of freedom from the Ottoman Empire as a republic, before the creation of the Greek monarchy. Kapodistrias struggled with the enormous influence of regional clans and families that hindered unity in the nascent Greek state and took numerous steps to disrupt their influence. He eventually imprisoned one of the most prominent figures of the Greek revolution, Petrobey Mavromichalis, for being a political nuisance. The enraged Mavromichalis family swore revenge and assassinated Ioannis, who was succeeded by his brother Augustinos. However Augustinos was unable to unite the varying families and clans who had political clout and his administration soon collapsed leaving the nation in crisis. 

I have only touched on a few of the most prominent families in Greek politics, there are more. Evidently the Greek parliament is dominated by political dynasties. The familial squabbles are unfortunately not left at home. The Greek political scene is notoriously unstable and it is a mark of achievement if an administration lasts for more than a year. During the twentieth century Greece had 103 PMs and even this figure excludes those PMs during periods at which there were rival governments such as the collaborationist governments during the Second World War and the communist ones of the Greek Civil War. Squabbling of either the family sort or the political sort is not therefore an alien aspect of Greek life! 

The current political crisis in Greece should therefore not come as a surprise. Greece is a country whose politics is marked by instability and dynastical dominance, with governments collapsing several times a year not an anomaly. George Papandreou had difficult decisions to make a few months ago. No doubt he was conscious of the legacy of his forebears and wanted to gain further renown for the Papandreou name. The call for a referendum ultimately was Papandreou’s attempt to prove himself as a powerful statesmen, with international influence, not a puppet to be dictated to by Germany and France. Ultimately this backfired of course and exposed the unsurprisingly fragile nature of the Greek government to the rest of Europe.

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