Second-term complacency a self-fulfilling prophecy

Every government that has made it to a second term has found itself sinking into a mire of inertia and ineffectiveness. Some also descended into corruption. What we have learned from these examples is that over-familiarity with power can lead to abuses in how it is exercised and that this has a paralytic effect on the entire government’s operation. Perhaps the entire mechanism of all these governments believed that any fuel they had left was going to be used up in the second term, thus making a third four-year term seem impossible. And as we all know, the key motivation of every influential force is to rise to or remain in power. When this motivation is absent, we have noticed a lack of effort, a tendency to jump ship and a general decline in support.

Intelligent people learn from the mistakes of others and make sure they don’t repeat them

When a government seeks re-election by claiming that it wants to complete everything it had set out to do, it is as if it is giving up any thought of a third term by basically admitting that it is done. Governments that get a lot done are constantly presented with new challenges because this is how life works. A government’s job in the second term is dynamic because it is not just about implementing the policies and measures that weren’t completed in the first term, but also about achieving the best possible response to all the new problems that crop up. Not setting their sights on a third term was a self-fulfilling prophecy for these governments, which basically gave up on getting things done. 

Intelligent people learn from the mistakes of others and make sure they don’t repeat them. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is no doubt an intelligent and well-educated man, and is very well aware of all the things described above. The question now is how he will prevent his government from sinking into the mire in the second term he appears poised to embark on, and how he will avoid the fate of previous governments. The only way to avoid this happening is to surge ahead, to press on with reforms that were not implemented in the first four years because of all the well-known obstacles, to implement the government’s 2023-2027 program and to set strategic goals for a third term. The fact that no government in Greece has ever served a third term doesn’t mean it will never happen.