Shipping Tycoons and Authoritarian Rulers: Doing the Oil Business with the Greek Dictatorship, 1967–1974

Abstract

The relationship between the Greek shipping tycoons and the colonels who seized power on 21 April 1967 has been a neglected issue in the literature on the Greek dictatorship (1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974). Despite the importance of the shipping tycoons' investments to the survival of the authoritarian rulers, the two groups proved to be uneasy partners. The clash of shipowners such as Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos over concessions in the Greek oil industry under the colonels triggered a rift within the leadership of the dictatorial regime, which subsequently proved to be a significant contributing factor in its fall. At the intersection of politics and economics, the colonels' oil policy epitomized the course from initial euphoria over business-friendly policies to introversion and stagnation that turned into a regime crisis in the aftermath of the oil shock.