For younger Greeks, democracy is not all it’s cracked up to be

The quality of the democracy achieved during the Metapolitefsi era, its institutional and financial performance, is held in much lower esteem by younger generations than older Greeks, a new poll has found.

Presented at the conference on “50 Years of the Metapolitefsi,” the survey by Pulse showed that only 33% of younger respondents believe that the country’s overall trajectory has changed for the better in those five decades (compared to 47% of the “Metapolitefsi generation” or those aged 10 or above when the junta fell in 1974). Only 8% of under-44s are very satisfied regarding how democracy is functioning in Greece, believing that a lot still needs to be achieved.

“The meanings are perceived differently and linked to different narratives by those who grew up in the Metapolitefsi and the generation that found itself in the age of ‘permacrisis,’” says Vasiliki Georgiadou, a politics professor at Panteion University.

As she explains, older generations perceive democracy as an achievement, not as a given.

“They have memories of the junta and the transition to democracy. For the younger generations it is seen as a reality that is not open to question, they enjoy the condition of unquestionable democracy and there is criticism for its improvement,” she explains.

For Costas Eleftheriou, assistant professor at Democritus University of Thrace, it is not surprising to see such intergenerational differences in how the quality of democracy is evaluated.

‘Older generations are products of democratization, while younger generations formed their attitudes in the context of the economic crisis’

“Older generations are products of democratization, while younger generations formed their attitudes in the context of the economic crisis, which has eroded the legitimacy of the political system,” he argues.

“A low assessment of the quality of democracy does not necessarily imply an undemocratic attitude, but possibly the inability of Greek political institutions to respond to the demands and expectations of citizens,” he adds.

Crisis of representation

When asked what is the first word that comes to mind when they think of the Metapolitefsi, most of those questioned in both groups said “democracy,” but there were also terms like “disappointment” and “corruption” that were high up in the answers of people from the younger generation.

“This leads to a drop in trust in the institutions and also social trust,” says Georgiadou. “Social trust is the basis for building political trust and this partly explains why interest in politics was lost, why we have less participation in political parties and even less people going to vote.”

Eleftheriou explains that the crisis of representation of a society, a component of growing distrust of political institutions, usually fuels three attitudes: “voting for the least bad option, turning to anti-systemic options and abstention.”

“The task of political elites is therefore to regain the trust of citizens, especially the younger generations. And this is the key to improving the quality of democracy 50 years after the post-independence period,” he says.

Eleftheriou argues that during the Metapolitefsi, a de facto framework of political competition has been created that favors stability, but stability does not automatically equate with the quality of democracy.

Georgiadou adds that the current situation in the country’s political system, where we have a dominant party and an opposition that is fragmented, bears similarities with the first period of Metapolitefsi.

“This was something transitional and it changed along the way,” she says. “In this final phase of the 50 years since the restoration of democracy, we observe this happening again, but it could be again a transitional period. After all, we see a lot of developments among the opposition parties and several key figures that are trying to claim a role in a space.”