During the recent weeks, Greece has been through one of the most critical bifurcation points of its modern history. On the 17th of June, the Greek people had a rendezvous with history, whether they missed it or not, only time will tell.
The elected parties, namely New Democracy (29.66%), Syriza (26.89%), PaSoK (12.28), Independent Greeks (7.51%) and Democratic Left (6.26) gave a press release as soon as the voting results were announced. They claimed to have heard, the commands that the Greek people gave to them. It can be said, this was the most apparent attempt of certifying domestic legitimacy for their future decisions.
As in most elections, it is difficult and often simplistic for a political leader to clearly interpret the outcome of the voting process. Yet the leaders of Greece were able to turn the polyphony or even the cacophony of the votes into one coherent and direct signal of legitimization towards their advocated policies. Could this be described as a form of demagoguism? Could it be possible to characterize, the Greek voting pattern, in any other way but spirited and deeply embedded with fear?
The Greek vote, on Sunday the 17th, should not be regarded as an act of positive freedom, in which each individual chose who he/she want to govern him/her. The vote was more an act of negative freedom, in the sense that people voted against what they feared the most, what would make them abolish more unfettered freedom of choice, what would lead them to a more dubious and uncertain future. Hence the only educated interpretation that could be attributed to the result would be the following. For the majority of Greeks, a future alongside Germany, France and the rest of the European union seems much preferable to a future of total sovereignty within the vast, ruthless and competitive modern international system.
What does this choice say for the European subsystem of states in comparison to the international system? Could it signify the need for further political and fiscal integration? Could it state the idea, that individually, the European states are not competitive enough anymore? Could it mean that power is shifting away from European states towards other actors of the international system? No matter what the interpretation of the election’s result might be, it seems important to look in the outputs that it produced.
Through the formation of a Greek government, a signal is sent to Europe, promising that Greece will abide by what any signed memorandums state. Thus Greece puts faith in Troika’s plan for a future solvent Greek state. Furthermore, through this European victory over disintegration tendencies, the common currency was offered a brief period of stability, thus injecting some certainty into the markets. Last but not least, Europe sends a message to the world-stage that it is here to stay, thus projecting its competitiveness and relevancy to contemporary world-politics.
