This dissertation investigates the intersection between political rhetoric and popular ideas about the Greek debt crisis and processes of identification and differentiation within a Greek diasporic community. It documents the significant role the economic crisis has assumed in local political rhetoric and explores the ways in which it has enriched previously existing discourses of identification, reshaping long-standing political debates, and engendering opportunities for transnational mobilization. The researcher's aim is to link culturally specific discursive strategies, interpretative trajectories, personal histories and wider moral economies, showcasing some of the complexities in processes of ethnic identification and intra-group differentiation. In short, this dissertation uses the advances of critical anthropological theory on place, objects, discursive and sensory practices to frame the plurality of ideas and rhetoric about the crisis within political, economic, and cultural contexts.

European integration is a unique project, based on which, after centuries of war, Europe commenced economic and political cooperation. However, as it is shown particularly in recent years, European diversity, either in terms of language, cultural background or economic development, is so present, that what is beneficial for some Member States of the European Union, may not necessarily be beneficial for all Member States of the European Union. After less than 20 years since the establishment of the European Union, we are witnessing the convergence process, which is far from finished, nevertheless it already encountered problems that will be faced many more years. While the most developed and the richest Member States continuously contribute to the EU budget, the other Member States, especially in southern Europe, they are still in the position of recipients of financial help. The recent development shows that the process of catching up is not as fast as expected, but it is very expensive. The introduction of economic and monetary union, on such a large and diverse territory proves to be short-sighted, mainly due to the absence of sufficient coordination of the fiscal policies executed by each of the Member States.

The dissertation is a multi-method study on current and common challenges to liberal democracy facing governments and societies on both sides of the Atlantic, with a particular emphasis on disaffection with democracy in Europe. It examines the factors that have led to disaffected publics in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Greece, by looking at political and economic developments that unfolded over the last decade including the Eurozone and Greek crisis, the Trump Presidency and the Brexit vote to leave the EU. By looking closely at these events, a number of factors are put in the forefront of analysis, such as globalization, European integration, domestic party politics and populism, and the rise of authoritarian politics. The dissertation draws evidence from a large pool of public opinion data on a number of issues relating to the quality of government and democracy, in-depth interviews with high-ranking officials and political actors in Brussels and Athens, discourse analysis of political statements and party manifestos, and employs literature underpinning the concepts applied in the research as analytical frameworks. Looking at the discontent relating to democracy in three particular contexts, the following insights can be drawn: public disaffection in the United States is primarily attributed to factors such as the indirect effects of globalization. However, further research shows that globalization has been more of a populist narrative taken out of its real context and consequences to garner further political support for populist leaders both in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Public disaffection in United Kingdom is seemingly stemming from the perceived disadvantages of EU membership, and its connection to global economic forces. Hence anti-establishment politics, and nationalist populism turn out to be major factors contributing to disaffection and help explain voters’ attitudes both regarding the Brexit vote and the Trump Presidency. Finally, the Greek case sharply illustrates how all of these factors have been at play during the management of the Greek economic crisis adding to further delegitimization of the European project. This was on the one hand manifested by the EU’s turn to neoliberal economic policy and neoliberal globalization, austerity politics, and the dismantling of the welfare state following the IMF’s economic prescriptions. On the other hand, what makes Greece distinct is its particularly troubled past of adversarial politics pertaining to the country’s political system, state and reform capacity, and not least the special character of the relationship between citizens and the political class, which has been traditionally marked by low levels of trust towards political parties and national governments. In this context, both the effects of the economic crisis and crisis management across the national and supranational context, further contributed to the citizens’ disaffection with democracy in Greece. / 2023-09-01T00:00:00Z

In autumn of 2010 the phenomenon of ‘Greek crisis’ was aggressively developed to a new experience of Greece. As a theatre practitioner from Athens, the specific historical time pushed me to question big-scale narratives of identity, home and belonging-ness. I relocated my training outdoors. My aim was to create a site-specific performance process that investigates place as a psychophysical experience and the ways through which it integrates with the cultural practices embedded in situ. The thesis builds around a Geographical/Buddhist framework where a cultural landscape epistemology outlined by Mitch Rose and John Wylie (2006) is realised through the practice of samatha vipashyana. The accounts of Rose and Wylie organise the examination of space as a body-landscape interrelationship. The Buddhist notion of mindfulness (sati) structures the investigation of the experience in space through theatre and dance disciplines in situ. The Buddhist concept of selflessness (anatta) permeates the performance practice in situ as a discipline of presence. Designated as Geopoetics, the practice of thesis applies meditation practices of breathing and walking to explore site through movement, feeling and activity. It further extends such a process via the disciplines of Somatics, Grotowski-based actor training and Dilley’s ‘dance.art.lab’. It employs the notions of ‘story’ from the Six Viewpoints system and ‘living myth’ of Anna Halprin to formulate a devising process of site-specific performance as an enactment of interrelationship between subject(s) and space. Geopoetics creates experiential containers within which the participant/ watcher is enabled to contemplate and re-examine her political, perceptual and emotional present. Based on its methodology of mindfulness (sati) notions of ‘identity’, ‘home’ and ‘sense of belonging’ are seen as individual or collective modes of attachment which altogether co-formulate the event of landscape. The practice of Geopoetics suggests an inquiry of place through the body for site-specific devisers and performers. It also relates to the discipline of architects, geographers and planners as a practice which investigates space’s contextual paradoxes and dynamics through the body.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A alteração feita pelo IASB em 2008 na classificação dos instrumentos financeiros para reduzir as perdas bancárias com a crise do subprime e de títulos soberanos dos países-membros da União Europeia, após um pedido protocolado pela Comissão da União Europeia, motivou esta pesquisa. A referida alteração ensejou a mudança do critério de avaliação, que passou de valor justo para valor amortizado, para os instrumentos reclassificados, muito embora alguns bancos não tenham aderido à reclassificação, mantendo a orientação original que determinava a avaliação pelo valor justo. Através de Estudo de Evento testou-se a Hipótese de Eficiência de Mercado - HEM, analisando 33 instituições bancárias detentoras de títulos soberanos gregos. Embora a alteração tenha colaborado para que essas instituições bancárias protelassem essas perdas no resultado, não afetou os fluxos de caixa futuros. E como evidenciam os resultados da pesquisa, o mercado foi equitativo com essas instituições, penalizando-as com base no grau de exposição aos títulos gregos, independentemente do critério utilizado, corroborando a HEM: o valor de um ativo é o valor presente dos fluxos de caixa futuros e não dos lucros. Uma consequência importante foi que os governos, através da terceira revisão do Acordo de Capital de Basileia, adotaram medidas para regulamentar com mais rigor as instituições financeiras, no intuito que essas instituições, futuramente, possam suportar melhor os efeitos de uma crise financeira. / The changes made by the IASB in 2008 on the classification of financial instruments to reduce bank losses due the subprime crisis and sovereign bonds of member countries of the European Union, following a request filed by the Commission of the European Union, stimulated this research. This change gave rise to the change of the evaluation criterion, which went from fair value to amortized value for the reclassified instruments, although some banks have not adhered to the reclassification, keeping the original direction that determined the valuation at fair value. Through Event Study tested the hypothesis Market Efficiency - HME, analyzing 33 banks holding Greek sovereign bonds And as evidenced by the survey results, the market was fair to those institutions, penalizing them based on the degree of exposure to Greek bonds, regardless of the criteria used, confirming the HEM: the value of an asset is the present value of future cash flows and not profits. An important result was that governments, through the third revision of the Basel Capital Agreement, adopted measures to regulate more strictly the financial institutions, in order that these institutions in the future to better withstand the effects of a financial crisis.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A alteração feita pelo IASB em 2008 na classificação dos instrumentos financeiros para reduzir as perdas bancárias com a crise do subprime e de títulos soberanos dos países-membros da União Europeia, após um pedido protocolado pela Comissão da União Europeia, motivou esta pesquisa. A referida alteração ensejou a mudança do critério de avaliação, que passou de valor justo para valor amortizado, para os instrumentos reclassificados, muito embora alguns bancos não tenham aderido à reclassificação, mantendo a orientação original que determinava a avaliação pelo valor justo. Através de Estudo de Evento testou-se a Hipótese de Eficiência de Mercado - HEM, analisando 33 instituições bancárias detentoras de títulos soberanos gregos. Embora a alteração tenha colaborado para que essas instituições bancárias protelassem essas perdas no resultado, não afetou os fluxos de caixa futuros. E como evidenciam os resultados da pesquisa, o mercado foi equitativo com essas instituições, penalizando-as com base no grau de exposição aos títulos gregos, independentemente do critério utilizado, corroborando a HEM: o valor de um ativo é o valor presente dos fluxos de caixa futuros e não dos lucros. Uma consequência importante foi que os governos, através da terceira revisão do Acordo de Capital de Basileia, adotaram medidas para regulamentar com mais rigor as instituições financeiras, no intuito que essas instituições, futuramente, possam suportar melhor os efeitos de uma crise financeira. / The changes made by the IASB in 2008 on the classification of financial instruments to reduce bank losses due the subprime crisis and sovereign bonds of member countries of the European Union, following a request filed by the Commission of the European Union, stimulated this research. This change gave rise to the change of the evaluation criterion, which went from fair value to amortized value for the reclassified instruments, although some banks have not adhered to the reclassification, keeping the original direction that determined the valuation at fair value. Through Event Study tested the hypothesis Market Efficiency - HME, analyzing 33 banks holding Greek sovereign bonds And as evidenced by the survey results, the market was fair to those institutions, penalizing them based on the degree of exposure to Greek bonds, regardless of the criteria used, confirming the HEM: the value of an asset is the present value of future cash flows and not profits. An important result was that governments, through the third revision of the Basel Capital Agreement, adopted measures to regulate more strictly the financial institutions, in order that these institutions in the future to better withstand the effects of a financial crisis.

Moins d’un siècle après la crise de 1929, la crise des subprimes marque un tournant décisif dans l’histoire financière mondiale, se distinguant des crises précédentes par son intensité et sa dimension globale. Dans un contexte d’interactions accrues entre pays développés et émergents, la stabilité financière constitue un enjeu décisif face au risque de contagion sur les marchés financiers. Dans le premier chapitre de cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au changement de paradigme réglementaire observé sur les marchés de dérivés après la crise des subprimes et aux enjeux en termes de stabilité financière d’une refonte de la réglementation sur ces marchés. Dans un second chapitre, nous mettons en exergue les phénomènes de contagion observés sur le marché de la dette durant la crise de la dette souveraine, et revenons sur l'impact des programmes de soutien mis en place par la BCE dans un contexte de forte contagion sur ce marché en 2010. Finalement dans un troisième, nous examinons l’impact de la politique monétaire américaine sur les flux capitaux vers les fonds obligataires spécialisés sur les économies émergentes en 2013. / Less than a century after the 1929 crisis, the subprime crisis was a turning point in world financial history, differing from previous crises by its intensity and global dimension. In a context of increased interactions between developed and emerging countries, financial stability became a critical issue given rising contagion risks on financial markets. In the first chapter of this thesis, we focus on the regulatory paradigm shift observed in the derivatives markets after the subprime crisis and resulting challenges on the back of a reshaping of the global financial regulation. In the second chapter, we highlight the contagion phenomena observed on debt markets during the euro area sovereign debt crisis, and observe the impact of support programs implemented by the ECB in 2010. Finally, in a third chapter, we examine the impact of U.S. monetary policy on capital flows to bond funds specialized in emerging economies in 2013.

Thesis uses game theory to explain behavior of certain states in the European sovereign-debt crisis. The goal is to find out, if those states use strategies leading to equilibrium i.e. if they maximize their expected utility. Theoretical part is based mainly on repeated games and Bayesian game. Thesis summarizes development of European sovereign-debt crisis and key economic indicators. It constructs a game model of the crisis and further analyses situation of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Greece as players in the game. The game model is then tested on key conflict situations such as relations of France and Germany, first Greek bailout negotiations or Spanish bank bailout negotiations. The results show that chosen states do maximize their expected utility in one election period. However maximization of utility in two or more election periods is limited by the parameters of democratic election system - length of election periods and information asymmetry between voters and politicians. The costs of elimination of information asymmetry would be higher than the costs of debt crisis. So even considering the costs of debt crisis the states are in long term equilibrium.

Die gegenwärtige Politik betrachtet Windenergieanlagen als ein entscheidendes Mittel für die Gestaltung einer nachhaltigen Zukunft. Dennoch lehnen die BewohnerInnen der griechischen Insel Amorgos Anträge zum Bau von Windenergieanlagen ab. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung analysiere ich, wie die InselbewohnerInnen die Option der Windenergie beurteilen. Die Analyse basiert auf einem interdisziplinären theoretischen Ansatz und einem neu entwickelten analytischen Rahmenwerk, dem Institutions - Habits - Intuitions (IHI) framework. Qualitative Forschungsmethoden, insbesondere persönliche Befragungen und teilnehmende Beobachtungen, sind wesentliche Elemente der Datenerhebung und erlauben mir, mich umfassend in den amorgianischen Kontext zu vertiefen. Die Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass der Beurteilungsprozess auf dem Zusammenwirken von Kosten-Nutzen Kalkulationen, der Infragestellung der Thematik der Windenergie und intuitivem Handeln basiert. Die Option der Windenergie erschüttert die herkömmlichen Interaktionen der InselbewohnerInnen, die die lokale Tourismuswirtschaft und Gemeindeverwaltung bestimmen. Die Kombination pre-formeller Institutionen, eingefahrener Gepflogenheiten und intuitives Agierens aufgrund bisheriger Erfahrungen bringt die amorgianische Gesellschaft dazu, Windenergieprojekte abzulehnen. Die Analyse beruht auf der Anwendung von Ansätzen der Sozialpsychologie und der Institutionenökonomik. Damit wird u.a. die gängige Annahme, der Mensch sei a priori ein Investor hinterfragt und die Absicht verfolgt, die Kluft zwischen Wirtschaftswissenschaften und ‘realer Welt’ zu verringern. Die Insel von Amorgos ist ein beispielhafter Mikrokosmos in und für Griechenland als Ganzes. Energiepolitische Strategien und die lokalen und nationalen Beurteilungsprozesse dieser sind dabei nur zu verstehen, wenn die mit dem Neoliberalismus zusammenhängende, tiefgreifende sozio-ökonomische Krise Griechenlands in den Blick genommen wird. / Locals of the Greek island of Amorgos refuse wind energy proposals, while contemporary politics regards wind farms as a crucial means of pursuing a sustainable future. On the basis of an interdisciplinary theoretical approach, I develop a new analytical framework called Institutions - Habits - Intuitions (IHI) framework to explain the way Amorgians judge the option of wind energy development on their island. The data collection relies on qualitative research methods, that is, face-to-face interviews and participant observations, which enable me to delve into the particular Amorgian context. The research results show that the synergy of locals’ calculation (cost-benefit analysis), reflection and intuitive action influences their deliberation on the wind energy issue. The option of wind energy development shocks the ordinary run of things on the island, which is characterised by off-the-record interactions that shape both the tourism economy and the municipal administration. The combination of local pre-formal institutions, entrenched habits and intuitive responses causes Amorgian society to resist wind farms. Analysing the Amorgian case through applying approaches derived from social psychology and institutional economics, I aim at bringing the readers of this book to reflect on the discourse on sustainability and narrowing the gap between the discipline of economics and the real world. My analysis questions the utilitarian assumption that man is a priori an investor, and goes beyond the case of Amorgos, which constitutes a microcosm of Greece, which currently experiences a deep socio-economic crisis. I draw attention to the fact that locals of Amorgos act and interact within the context of this crisis, which is related to the political economic thinking attributed to neoliberalism. Finally, I claim that increasing bureaucratisation of social life clashes with local ethics, thereby affecting responses to politics of climate change mitigation.