A lesson on local government by Ion Dragoumis
July 31, 2023 marks 103 years since the assassination of Ion Dragoumis (according to the “old” Julian calendar, August 12 according to the “new” Gregorian one). Dragoumis is an important figure in modern Greek history with many books and essays exploring aspects of his life and thought. I have spent a good part of my professional life studying Dragoumis and I have two general observations: First, he was indeed a charming and tragic figure; second his ideas were often half-baked, at times contradictory and impractical. Nevertheless, sometimes he appears to have been a prophet diagnosing what was problematic with Greece and the Greeks and proposing various solutions.
One could argue that today we have better things to do and Dragoumis should remain the subject of study by historians, but I would argue that in at least one area his ideas should be studied and even adopted. I am referring to his ideas on local government. Dragoumis believed that the Greek administrative system was too centralized and as a result the various municipalities did not have the means or the authority to take care of some of their basic needs. He proposed that Athens allow local governments to levy some taxes and take care of such needs as repair of local roads, educational and health needs etc. That way, believed Dragoumis, Athens would be free to concentrate on national issues while municipalities would focus on needs and solutions they knew well and, in the process, invigorate local initiative.
The above comes to mind when I hear about particular problems some Greek municipalities face; problems which are not faced by other parts of Greece but which, somehow, the local authorities are neither authorized nor equipped to solve. I hear, for example, that on the island of Mykonos, and other touristy islands of Greece teachers cannot find affordable housing and as a result fewer of them are willing to serve the educational needs of the students there. Currently, some municipalities cannot, or have not, cut and remove dry foliage and as a result deadly wildfires have razed homes, businesses and forests.
To be sure, there are tasks that only the national government has the means to solve; we do not expect a municipality to build schools or have ready airplanes that can extinguish fires. But it is possible, indeed desirable, that local governments take the initiative in providing affordable housing for rent to teachers, as it is natural to expect them to have enough people and equipment to clear the brush and do other public works like that.
Of course, giving more powers to municipalities will not be helpful if we go from the central government underperforming to the local governments underperforming. This is not the first summer with multiple fires; the government cannot claim to be caught by surprise with not enough personnel or material; local governments have no excuse not to have cut down and removed branches and foliage. In the last election the Greek people voted for a competent, effective government, it is time to see if their vote was justified.
John Mazis is professor of history at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
