The Europeanization of urban governance in Greece: a dynamic and contradictory process

Abstract

The introduction of EU funding programmes in Greek cities has led to new forms of governance, mainly including the emergence of new institutions for partnerships and citizens' participation. Based on theories of Europeanization and on theories of re-scaling, this paper examines the magnitude and the direction of change in Greek urban policy. It suggests that the new institutions emerging from the Europeanization process face a number of constraints and contradictions emanating from the Greek political system. Empirical evidence shows that three endogenous factors of the Greek political system had impacted negatively upon these partnerships, favouring short-term institutionalization, unequal power relations inside the partnerships and lack of trust and commitment. These factors amount to the financial and political dependence of local authorities to the state, the weak civil society and, finally, the individualistic political culture. However, processes of policy learning and capacity building have also arisen, presenting new challenges for the transformation of urban policy.

Political Culture and Perception of Political Marketing Tools: A Cross-Generational Comparison

“…However, the new policies and networks stemming from the Europeanization process face a number of constraints and contradictions emanating from the Greek political system. Among these constraints, the individualistic political culture is of major importance, along with the weak civil society compared to the civil societies of other Western European countries (Getimis and Grigoriadou, 2004;Sotiropoulos, 1995).…”

Post-industrial Trajectories of Mediterranean European Cities: The Case of Post-Olympics Athens

“…In contrast to the lack of public land and the landownership fragmentation in the inner city, these waterfront areas contain a considerable amount of nonfragmented public land, suitable for major planning interventions, innovative design and the creation of post-industrial economic epicentres. Turning to the latter, the established urban governance model in contemporary Greek cities is a kind of hybrid structure between 'Europeanisation' and 'traditional political behavioural logic' (Getimis and Grigoriadou, 2004). Although European integration has had strong direct and indirect effects on urban governance in Greece the combination of a centralised state structure with a weak civil society and a state-dependent local government has led to hierarchical clientelistic networks, party-dominated political relations, an individualistic and confrontational culture and phenomena of local corporatism (Getimis and Grigoriadou, 2004, p. 13).…”

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“…, 2005). Experiential learning provides greater uptake and deployment of skills and knowledge (Williams, 2006) and organizations with experience of working together or on similar projects are more likely to develop successful inter‐organizational relationships (Getimis and Grigoriadou, 2004; Suarez‐Balcazar et al. , 2006).…”

“…Partnership‐based, cooperative and collaborative relationships were advocated as they can result in development of trust, institutional learning, and enable objectives to be achieved (Getimis and Grigoriadou, 2004; Pahl‐Wostl et al. , 2007; Ryan and Bidwell, 2007).…”