Crisis, Clientelism and Institutional Resilience: reflections on a public sector reform under the MoUs

Structural reforms, particularly in the area of public administration, have always proved a challenge for Greek governments. During the 2010s crisis, the magnitude of the policy and institutional failures of the previous politico-administrative establishment and pressure from the creditors, led to an ambitious public administration reform programme.

While many reforms were successfully implemented during this time, the overall implementation record remained erratic with many delays, gaps and even reversals in key reforms. Seeking to provide an explanation for the observed implementation record, Dr. Katsikas examined one of the flagship public administration reforms in the adjustment programmes, the reform of the remuneration system for public sector employees. Comparing alternative propositions for the resilience of public administration institutions under conditions of deep crisis and external conditionality, he argued that the implementation record for this reform can be best explained by recourse to the dynamics of the clientelist equilibrium at the core of the politico-administrative nexus in Greece. 

Meet our speaker and chair 

Dimitris Katsikas is Assistant Professor of International and European Political Economy and Director of the Research Centre for Economic Policy, Governance and Development at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is also Senior Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). He studied Business Administration at the Athens University of Economics and Business and continued his postgraduate studies in finance and international political economy at the London School of Economics (LSE). He received his PhD from LSE in the field of international political economy. He has taught as Visiting Professor at the Greek National School of Public Administration and the Diplomatic Academy of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has published his work in international academic journals and has edited and co-edited books with major international academic publishers. His research focuses on international and European political economy and economic governance. In recent years, the Greek and European crises became his major research interests. He has participated as researcher and coordinator in a number of Greek and European research programmes related to the crises. In 2013 he created the Crisis Observatory at ELIAMEP, a unique hub for research, information and public discourse on the Greek and European crises. He was Head of the Observatory until 2019 when it was restructured into ELIAMEP’s new Greek and European Economy Observatory. He headed the new Observatory until August 2021, as ‘Stavros Costopoulos’ Senior Research Fellow.

Kevin Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos Professor in Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in European Politics in the European Institute at LSE, where he is also Director of the Hellenic Observatory.

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