Syriza leads the polls in Greece, but it remains unclear who the party could enter coalition with after the election

Greece will hold parliamentary elections on 25 January. Ahead of the vote, Stella Ladi writes on the state of play in the Greek party system. She notes that while the radical left party Syriza currently leads the polling, there is debate over who its most likely coalition partners would be should it fail to secure a majority, with potentially the new centrist party ‘The River’ and Pasok still offering the most likely candidates, despite recent statements to the contrary by Syriza’s leader Alexis Tsipras

The EU in the World: Public Procurement Policy and the EU-WTO relationship

To what extent and in what ways does the European Union (EU) seek to adjust the global public policy debate to its own goals and priorities? Our paper sheds light to these crucial questions regarding the EU’s global role by examining the Union’s relationship to the World Trade Organization (WTO), adopting and revising public procurement regulations as the case study under investigation. Using a qualitative research methodology and relying on more than 15 interviews with EU, WTO and interest groups, the paper sheds new light to an underdeveloped research area. Theoretically, we point to the limitations of the Principal Agent (PA) approach in EU governance and adopt a transnational regulatory networks approach instead. Empirically, the paper demonstrates the cyclical nature of the relationship between the EU and the WTO in adopting and revising the Union’s public procurement Directives as well as the WTO’s Global Procurement Agreement (GPA). This cyclical relationship demonstrates the existence of an informal transnational regulatory network negotiating the modernization of the EU procurement directives. On the other hand, much fewer actors are active in the revision of the GPA. With the Commission playing a central role in framing the contours of the EU policy debate and representing the EU member-states in the revision of the GPA, the paper also highlights the enhanced role of the European Parliament (EP) in reforming the EU policy agenda on procurement policy

The EU in the World: Public Procurement Policy and the EU-WTO relationship

To what extent and in what ways does the European Union (EU) seek to adjust the global public policy debate to its own goals and priorities? Our paper sheds light to these crucial questions regarding the EU’s global role by examining the Union’s relationship to the World Trade Organization (WTO), adopting and revising public procurement regulations as the case study under investigation. Using a qualitative research methodology and relying on more than 15 interviews with EU, WTO and interest groups, the paper sheds new light to an underdeveloped research area. Theoretically, we point to the limitations of the Principal Agent (PA) approach in EU governance and adopt a transnational regulatory networks approach instead. Empirically, the paper demonstrates the cyclical nature of the relationship between the EU and the WTO in adopting and revising the Union’s public procurement Directives as well as the WTO’s Global Procurement Agreement (GPA). This cyclical relationship demonstrates the existence of an informal transnational regulatory network negotiating the modernization of the EU procurement directives. On the other hand, much fewer actors are active in the revision of the GPA. With the Commission playing a central role in framing the contours of the EU policy debate and representing the EU member-states in the revision of the GPA, the paper also highlights the enhanced role of the European Parliament (EP) in reforming the EU policy agenda on procurement policy

The role and performance of independent regulatory agencies in post-crisis Greece

The importance of independent agencies aiming to regulate the market has increased during the crisis years. Existing agencies such as the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission, the Regulatory Authority for Energy and the Hellenic Competition Committee have been strengthened while new ones such as the Regulatory Authority for Railways and the Regulatory Authority for Ports have been introduced. This has been the result of the increased pressure for privatizations and the liberalization of sectors of the economy (network industries) which used to be dominated by state-owned enterprises (DEKO). This paper aims to map the landscape of independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) in Greece and to provide an assessment their performance up to now

Global public policy, transnational policy communities, and their networks

Public policy has been a prisoner of the word "state." Yet, the state is reconfigured by globalization. Through "global public–private partnerships" and "transnational executive networks," new forms of authority are emerging through global and regional policy processes that coexist alongside nation-state policy processes. Accordingly, this article asks what is "global public policy"? The first part of the article identifies new public spaces where global policies occur. These spaces are multiple in character and variety and will be collectively referred to as the "global agora." The second section adapts the conventional policy cycle heuristic by conceptually stretching it to the global and regional levels to reveal the higher degree of pluralization of actors and multiple-authority structures than is the case at national levels. The third section asks: who is involved in the delivery of global public policy? The focus is on transnational policy communities. The global agora is a public space of policymaking and administration, although it is one where authority is more diffuse, decision making is dispersed and sovereignty muddled. Trapped by methodological nationalism and an intellectual agoraphobia of globalization, public policy scholars have yet to examine fully global policy processes and new managerial modes of transnational public administration

In the name of "the people"? Popular Sovereignty and the 2015 Greek referendum

This article explores the rise of new conflicts of sovereignty especiallywith regard to popular sovereignty in the EU polity. It askswhether referenda in the national realm are effective tools toenhance popular sovereignty at supranational level. To elucidatethis question, we distinguish between embedded and unilateralreferenda. Empirically, the paper focuses on the referendum calledby the Greek government on the proposed Memorandum ofUnderstanding in 2015. While ambiguous from the outset, thereferendum turned out to be of an embedded nature and failedto enhance popular sovereignty. Based on elite interviews andanalysis of the discussion in the media, our analysis shows thatthe referendum was envisaged by the Greek government instrumentallyto put pressure on the other negotiating parties andtackle internal party disagreements. This turned out to be a selfdefeatingstrategy ignoring the popular mandate and failing toimprove the conditions for financial assistance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The Critical Juncture Concept’s Evolving Capacity to Explain Policy Change

This article examines the evolution of our understanding of the critical junctures concept. The concept finds its origins in historical intuitionalism, being employed in the context of path dependence to account for sudden and jarring institutional or policy changes. We argue that the concept and the literature surrounding it—now incorporating ideas, discourse, and agency—have gradually become more comprehensive and nuanced as historical institutionalism was followed by ideational historical institutionalism and constructivist and discursive institutionalism. The prime position of contingency has been supplanted by the role of ideas and agency in explaining critical junctures and other instances of less than transformative change. Consequently, the concept is now capable of providing more comprehensive explanations for policy change

The Eurozone crisis and austerity politics: a trigger for administrative reform in Greece?

Greece was the first European Monetary Union country to sign a Memorandum with the European Commission and the European Central Bank in order to secure financial assistance and prevent a total collapse of its economy following the severe international economic crisis. This Memorandum (2010), offered detailed steps of structural reforms that have affected all public services in Greece. The lack of major results and the stickiness of the ‘Greek problem’ have made Greece a unique casestudy for evaluating both the recipe of the international donors and the domestic capacity for reform. A historical institutionalist approach and the concept of ‘policy paradigm’ are combined in order to evaluate what are the conditions for a major administrative reform in time of crisis. The article focuses on the specific attempt to reform public administration during the Papandreou government in order to analyse the importance of both time and type of change in the success of a major reform programme